Bulldogs Take On Youngstown State In Horizon League Championships

March 3, 2003

Notes on YSU

* The Butler women's basketball team will participate in the Horizon League Championship's play-in game for the second straight year when the ninth-seeded Bulldogs (5-22, 3-13 Horizon League) take on No. 8 Youngstown State (6-21, 3-13) on Wednesday (Mar. 5) at UW-Green Bay's Phoenix Sports Center. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.

* Youngstown State, which has lost seven of it's last eight games (the exception being an overtime win at Butler), boasts a balanced offensive attack, with four players averaging double figures in scoring. Jen Perugini leads the Penguins with 12.5 points per game, followed by Devin Novak (11.6 pg), Jessica Olmstead (10.1 pg) and Maggie Johnston (10.0 pg).

* As a team, the Penguins lead the league in blocked shots (3.59 pg) and free throw shooting (.766) and rank second in 3-point field goal shooting (.353).

* At the helm of the Youngstown State squad is head coach Ed DiGregorio, who is in his 20th season with the Penguins. DiGregorio holds a 319-240 overall record in his tenure at YSU.

History Lesson: Youngstown State is undefeated against Butler, holding a 4-0 overall series record against the Bulldogs. Despite sweeping Butler in the regular season for the past two years, this season's series has been decided by a combined nine points, including an overtime battle at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Feb. 22.

We Meet Again: The Penguins should be fresh on the minds of the Butler women's basketball players and coaches, since the Bulldogs faced YSU just nine days ago. The game proved to be a memorable one as it was a battle to the finish. Jen Perugini hit a turnaround baseline jumper with 0.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime and the Penguins outscored Butler 12-6 in the final five minutes of action to escape with an 80-74 overtime victory. Cortney Urquhart, who scored a career-high 21 points in the game, hit a layup with 2.5 seconds remaining in regulation to put Butler ahead 68-66. Stephanie Boeke intercepted the ensuing inbounds pass, which seemingly gave the Bulldogs the win, but was called for traveling when she fell down with the ball at the buzzer. After YSU was awarded the ball and four tenths of a second put back on the clock, Perugini caught the inbounds pass and hit the turnaround jumper from ten feet out to send the game into overtime. Angel Mason (16) and Jessica Monaco (10) also scored in double figures for the Bulldogs.

In Earlier Action: Youngstown State staved off a late Butler rally to hold on for a 72-69 win on Jan. 17 at the Beeghly Center. The Bulldogs fought back from a 17-point second half deficit to pull ahead by one with two minutes remaining, but clutch free throws in the final minutes propelled Youngstown State to the win.

Last Time Out: The Butler women's basketball team chipped away at a 22-point second half deficit, but ran out of time at the end, falling to UW-Milwaukee 68-55 Saturday afternoon at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers outrebounded Butler 47-36 on the game and shot 44 percent from the field, but were plagued by 28 turnovers, the most for a Butler opponent this season. Butler shot poorly from the field, connecting on just 30.2 percent (19-63) of its shots, including a 3-of-21 (.143) performance from long range.

Alone At The Top: For the second straight game Butler had just one player score in double figures. Angel Mason led the Bulldogs with 10 points against the nationally-ranked Phoenix and Lisa Pryor posted a team-high 14 points in Butler's loss to UW-Milwaukee.

It's All Good: Junior Dionne Goodwin led Butler in rebounding in both of last week's games. Goodwin, who is averaging 3.2 rebounds per game, hauled down a game-high nine rebounds against the Phoenix before recording eight rebounds at UW-Milwaukee. Goodwin also scored five points off the bench in each of those outings.

Bracket Breakdown: If Butler was to win the play-in game of the Horizon League Championships, the Bulldogs would face No. 1 UW-Green Bay on Thursday in a 7 p.m. game. No. 7 Detroit is matched against No. 2 UIC in the day's 1:30 p.m. battle and No. 3 UW-Milwaukee will battle it out against No. 6 Cleveland State in the 3 p.m. game. No. 5 Loyola and No. 4 Wright State tipoff at 9 p.m. to conclude the quarterfinal action.

Third Time Is A Charm?: If the Bulldogs were to advance to the quarterfinals, it would mark the third straight season they would face top-seeded UW-Green Bay in the quarterfinals. In 2001, the Phoenix defeated Butler 64-53 in the first round and last season UW-Green Bay captured a 65-43 win over the Bulldogs. Butler had defeated Wright State 74-61 in the Horizon League Championship's inaugural play-in game to advance to the quarterfinals. Butler has not advanced to the semifinals of the Championships since the 1998-99 season.

D, D, Defense: Detroit's 49-point output on Feb. 15 was the least amount scored by a Butler opponent since the Bulldogs' 87-43 win over UIC during the 1998-99 campaign. Detroit's 49 points is also well below Butler's opponents' average, as the Bulldogs have been allowing 73.2 points per game this season. Butler is 3-0 this season when holding opponents below 60 points.

Bad Shooting = Wins?: Despite shooting a season-worst 28.3 percent (17-60), the Bulldogs still managed to pull of the 57-49 win over Detroit. In fact, in only one of Butler's five wins this season have the Bulldogs shot better than 40 percent. Included on the list of victories where the Bulldogs struggled shooting was a 21-of-74 (.284) performance from the field against Cleveland State.

Moving On Up: Nancy Bowden's 179 assists ranks third on Butler's single season charts, and is just four behind Barb Skinner (1982-83), who stands in second place. The 5-2 floor leader's 335 career dishes also ranks sixth all-time. Bowden's 86 steals this season also places her in the Top Ten in both single season and career (193) record books.

Showing Improvement: Butler's win over Detroit nearly doubles the team's win total from last season, as the Bulldogs boosted their record to five overall wins and three victories in league action. The Bulldogs finished with a 3-26 overall ledger and were 1-15 in league action during the 2001-02 campaign.

Leader Of The Pack: Six different players have led Butler in scoring this season, including Angel Mason, Nancy Bowden, Cortney Urquhart, Lisa Pryor and Tiffany Smith who have all been the Top Dog on two or more occasions and Stephanie Boeke who led Butler in scoring against Loyola.

Double Duty: Cortney Urquhart has tallied a team-best six double-doubles on the season, including four against league opponents. Angel Mason and Nancy Bowden have each recorded three double-double outings on the season.

Line 'Em Up: Sophomore Cortney Urquhart is the lone Butler player to have started in all 27 games this season. Nancy Bowden has started in 26 of the team's affairs, while no other player has appeared in the starting lineup more than 22 times. Head coach Beth Couture has used eleven different starting lineups throughout the season.

Doing The Time: There is no rest for the weary as point guard Nancy Bowden has already compiled 1005 minutes (which ranks 3rd in a single season) in her 26 games played for an average of 37.2 minutes per outing. Bowden has played 40+ minutes in 11 games thus far, including playing all 45 minutes in Butler's overtime win over Cleveland State.

Top Dog: Nancy Bowden leads the Horizon League with 6.6 assists per game, more than one assist better than the player ranked second. Bowden also ranks first in steals per game (3.19) and ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.74). Her solid numbers have also put her in the national spotlight, as she ranks 12th among Division 1 players in assists and 25th in steals.

Doubling Over: Eight different players have recorded double-figure scoring outings for the Bulldogs. Cortney Urquhart leads the way with 18 double-figure scoring outings, followed by Nancy Bowden (16), Angel Mason (15), Lisa Pryor (15), Jessica Monaco (6), Tiffany Smith (4), Stephanie Boeke (4) and Dionne Goodwin (1).

League Honors: Nancy Bowden became the first Butler women's basketball player to be named the Horizon League Player of the Week since Kelly Kuhn was honored during the 2000-01 season. During the week of Dec. 30, Bowden scored 20 points, two shy of her career-high, and set a new career-high with seven steals to go along with five assists in the Bulldogs' loss to Eastern Michigan. The 5-2 floor leader then recorded 16 points, including a 9-of-10 performance from the free throw line, five assists and four rebounds in Butler's 69-63 win over UIC in the Bulldogs' league opener. She averaged 18 points, five assists and 3.5 rebounds in the two games for the Bulldogs.

A Strong Start: Butler's win over the Flames gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 record in the Horizon League, marking the first time since the 1999-00 season that Butler had won its league opener. The Bulldogs did not capture its first win in Horizon League play last season until Feb. 14, after Butler began league play with an 0-13 record.

Balancing Act: The Bulldogs boast a balanced offensive attack as four players are averaging 9.9 points or more. Cortney Urquhart is leading the team with 11.1 points per game, followed by Angel Mason (10.7 ppg), Nancy Bowden (10.2 ppg) and Lisa Pryor (9.9 ppg).

Injury Prone: For the second consecutive year, the Bulldogs have again been plagued by numerous injuries. Sophomore guard/forward Maria Marchesano has missed 25 games this season and will miss the next 1-2 weeks due to a stress fracture in her foot. Freshman Nikki Budgake missed the first five games due to excessive bruising within her knee capsule. Fellow freshman Jessica Monaco was sidelined for the first four games this season with an ACL sprain and sophomore Christine Cox missed the first ten games this season due to an injury to her foot. Junior Tiffany Smith has been recently sidelined, suffering stress fractures in both of her legs missed seven games, appearing back on the court for the first time against UIC.

Missing Maria: Sophomore forward Maria Marchesano's absence on the court is something the Bulldogs have missed for the last 24 games. Marchesano put up some impressive numbers from long range during her rookie season. The 5-10 forward set school records for three-pointers in a single-game (7) and season (64) and averaged 10.1 points per game in Horizon League action. She was named to the 2001-02 Horizon League All-Newcomer team.

A Dozen Does It: Junior guard Nancy Bowden recorded 12 points to go along with 12 assists against Bradley. Her 12 assists were a career-high, surpassing her old mark of eight, and ranks in a fifth-place tie on Butler's single-game list.

A Look Ahead: First year head coach Beth Couture took the first step in her attempt to renew the winning tradition of the Butler women's basketball program by signing three highly-touted recruits. Ellen Hamilton and Jackie Closser, both Indiana Junior All-Stars, along with Ashley Brenden, a prep standout from Bloomington, Minn., each signed the National Letter of Intent and will be the newest members of the 2003-04 roster.

New Faces: While the 2002-03 Butler women's basketball team returns 10 letterwinners to the court, including four starters, there will be a noticeable difference on the sidelines this season - first year head coach Beth Couture and her staff. Couture is no stranger to success, as she posted 11 winning seasons as the head coach at Presbyterian College, a Division II program in Clinton, S.C. There, she helped her team to three straight conference regular season and tournament titles and earned the conference's Coach of the Year honors on four occasions. Her demand for excellence filters down through her coaching staff, which includes Seph Hatley (Pfeiffer '94), Gene Hill (Coker College '97) and Monica Claridge (St. Joseph's '00).

PreSeason Prediction: Junior Nancy Bowden was named to the preseason All-Horizon League Second Team, after being named to the All-Defensive team last year. The Bulldogs were picked to finish eighth in the nine-team conference. UW-Green Bay, which won both the regular season and the tournament last year, was predicted to finish first, followed by UW-Milwaukee, Loyola, Cleveland State, UIC, Youngstown State, Detroit. Wright State rounded out the poll in ninth place.