University of Massachusets Athletics
Butler Named A-10 Defensive Player Of The Year
March 05, 2003 | Women's Basketball
March 5, 2003
NEWPORT, R.I. - University of Massachusetts women's basketball senior center Jennifer Butler (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was named the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year as announced this evening at the annual championship banquet. Butler was also named to the first-team All-Conference.
Butler finished the regular season as the nation's leading rebounder, pulling down 14.4 boards a game. She also leads the conference in steals (2.41 spg), is third in scoring (17.0 ppg), fifth in blocks (1.30 bpg) and 13th in field goal percentage (.462). In the Minutewomen's win over Fordham Feb. 27, Butler grabbed 19 rebounds to become the all-time leading rebounder in the history of the A-10. She has now pulled down 719 boards in regular season league games.
Butler was joined on the All-Conference first team by Beth Friday of Duquesne, Player of the Year Cathy Jones from George Washington as well as Amy Waugh and Reetta Pippari from Xavier. In addition to Butler, the All-Defensive team is comprised of Richmond's Amber Goppert, Rhode Island's Shayla Johnson, Ugo Oha of George Washington and Temple's Stacey Smalls.
Butler, who was also selected as the Philadelphia Sports Connection A-10 Player of the Year, stands in fifth place all-time at UMass with 1,461 points, first with 1,305 rebounds, is tied for third with 373 free throws made, first with 681 free throw attempts, first with an 11.5 rebound per game average, third with 139 career blocks and first with 236 steals. Earlier this season, Butler became the first player in school history to eclipse the 1,000-point and 1,000-rebound plateau in her career.
This year, Butler has posted a double-double in 23 of the Minutewomen's 27 games. This includes three, 30-plus point performances, four, 20-rebound efforts and 25 double-figure rebounding tallies. She scored 31 points on Jan. 16, 2003 against Temple, the highest single-game tally by any UMass player in the Mullins Center. On Dec. 28, 2002, Butler recorded a then-career high 30 points, while hauling in a school-record 30 rebounds in a double overtime loss at Florida. The rebounding tally was the fifth-highest single-game mark in NCAA Division I history and most-ever in the A-10. She has been a four-time A-10 Player of the Week pick this year as well as a three-time Dinn Brothers/UMass Athlete of the Week selection.
Butler and the Minutewomen will play La Salle at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at the Ryan Center in Kingston, R.I. The winner moves on to face Xavier in Friday's quarterfinal action. Tip-off will also be at approximately 6:00 p.m.