BUTLER BASKETBALL

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1 BUTLER BASKETBALL Front Row, l-r: Candace Jones, Candyce Brown, Terra Burns, Devin Brierly, Azjah Bass and Alyssa Pittman. Middle Row, l-r: Assistant Coach Seph Hatley, Assistant Coach Angel Mason, Amie Kabara, Brittany Bowen, Kaley May, Head Coach Beth Couture and Assistant Coach Amy Cherubini. Back Row, l-r: Lade Akande, Jenny Ostrom, Susan Lester, Tara Miller, Melanie Thornton and Chloe Hamilton Women s Basketball Roster No. Name Ht. Pos. Yr. Hometown/High School (Last School) 10 Brittany Bowen 5-10 G/F So. Columbus, Ind./Columbus North 11 Amie Kabara 5-11 C Jr. Waynesfi eld, Ohio/Waynesfi eld-goshen 12 Terra Burns 5-8 G So. Peoria, Ill./Peoria 15 Tara Miller 5-10 G/F Sr. Ramsey, Ind./North Harrison (Indiana) 20 Candace Jones 5-7 G Sr. Indianapolis, Ind./Arsenal Tech 21 Candyce Brown 5-7 G Sr. Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington North 22 Alyssa Pittman 5-8 G Jr. Elkhart, Ind./Elkhart Memorial (Eastern Michigan) 23 Azjah Bass 5-7 G So. Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence North 24 Melanie Thornton 6-1 F Jr. Carmel, Ind./Carmel 25 Devin Brierly 5-9 G Fr. Hanover, Ind./Southwestern 30 Susan Lester 6-2 F/C Jr. Anderson, Ind./Pendleton 32 Chloe Hamilton 5-10 F So. Holt, Mich./Holt 33 Kaley May 5-11 G/F Fr. Avon, Ind./Avon 42 Jenny Ostrom 6-0 F/C Fr. St. Anthony, Minn./St. Anthony Village 55 Lade Akande 6-1 C Sr. Robinson, Ill./Robinson Head Coach: Beth Couture (Erskine, 1984), Seventh Season Assistant Coach: Amy Cherubini (Indiana, 1994), Third Season Assistant Coach: Seph Hatley (Pfeiffer, 1994), Fifth Season Assistant Coach: Angel Mason (Butler, 2004), First Season

2 Butler Basketball TABLE OF CONTENTS Roster and Team Photo...IFC Letter from Coach Couture...1 Welcome to Butler Hinkle Fieldhouse The City of Indianapolis Being a Bulldog The Horizon League PREVIEW Season Outlook Pre-Season Information...14 Media Information...14 THE COACHES Head Coach Beth Couture Assistant Coach Amy Cherubini...18 Assistant Coach Seph Hatley...19 Assistant Coach Angel Mason...20 Basketball Support Staff...21 Athletic Staff and Services...22 THE PLAYERS Returning Players Lade Akande Candyce Brown Candace Jones Tara Miller Amie Kabara Susan Lester Melanie Thornton Azjah Bass Brittany Bowen Terra Burns Chloe Hamilton Jenny Ostrom...46 Newcomers Alyssa Pittman...47 Devin Brierly...48 Kaley May...49 Welcome to Butler Women s Basketball! No excuses, no explanations. From The Desk Of HEAD COACH BETH COUTURE Coach Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts has always used this as part of his coaching philosophy. This season, we have adopted it as ours. It s time. Time to maintain the tradition of winning for Butler Women s Basketball. Time to accept the responsibility that comes with being a contender for the Horizon League Championship. Time to embrace the idea of participating in a post-season tournament. As we embark on the season, we hope to use the momentum from our 20- win campaign just a year ago. With a strong senior class and an experienced group of underclassmen, this year could prove to be one of our most exciting yet! I am proud to be the Head Women s Basketball coach at Butler University where our student-athletes are committed to The Butler Way Demands commitment, denies selfishness, accepts reality yet seeks constant improvement, and promotes the good of the team above self. After reviewing this media guide, I hope you ll see why we are excited about Butler Women s Basketball. GO DAWGS! All-Time Roster REVIEW Season in Review Statistics and Results...54 OPPONENTS Opponents Tournaments...60 Results vs Opponents...61 All-Time Series Records...62 HISTORY & RECORDS Butler Notables...64 Honors and Awards...65 Yearly Leaders...66 Single Game Records...67 Single Season Records Career Records On The Road With Butler Basketball...IBC Beth Couture Head Coach Butler Women s Basketball Credits: The Butler women s basketball media guide was designed, written and updated by Chris Urban, assistant sports information director. Design and editing assistance provided by Jim McGrath, Associate AD for Communications, and Joe Gentry, Director of Sports Marketing. Additional assistance provided by Sally Cutler, Tara Miller and Sheryl Rodgers. Cover design by Butler Marketing Communications office. Head shots and team photo by Bill McAdow. Action photos and campus images by Brent Smith. Special thanks to the Horizon League and VSN Photography. Printing by Moeller Printing, Indianapolis, Ind Butler Basketball 1

3 Butler University Welcome To BUTLER! The fi ve faculty and 113 students present when Butler University opened in 1855 laid a solid foundation for over 150 years of creative change and progress. Today s 4,200 students carry on that legacy, as they continue to look ahead while treasuring the traditions unique to Butler. The young school, originally named North Western Christian University, was unusually innovative. It was the fi rst in Indiana, and only the third in the nation, to admit women on an equal basis with men. With the appointment in 1858 of Catherine Merrill as Demia Butler Professor of English, the institution became the second in the country to appoint a woman faculty member, the fi rst to establish an endowed chair specifi cally for a female professor and the fi rst to establish a professorship in English literature. The school was also the fi rst in Indiana to allow its students, with parental consent, to choose subjects suited to their needs under a new elective system. As Indianapolis grew, the city s commercial district began to penetrate the heavily-wooded campus at what is now the corner of Thirteenth Street and College Avenue. In 1873, the board of directors decided to sell the downtown campus and accept a gift of 25 acres in Irvington, then a suburb east of Indianapolis. In 1877, North Western Christian University became Butler University, taking the name of its founder and benefactor, Indianapolis attorney Ovid Butler. Butler moved again 50 years later, as the Circle City continued to grow. In 1928, classes were held for the fi rst time in Jordan Hall, an imposing new Gothic structure erected on the beautiful Fairview Park Site, a wooded tract north of the city on the White River and the Inland Waterway Canal. Today s students come from nearly every state in the nation and from many foreign countries to enroll in degree programs in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, or in one of four professional colleges -- Business Administration, Education, Fine Arts or Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Butler is one of only 21 private schools in the country offering a pharmacy program Butler Basketball

4 Butler University True to the vision of its founders, the University continues to offer an array of professional and pre-professional programs within the context of a strong commitment to the traditional arts and sciences and to the values of liberal education. Butler continues to welcome highly motivated, intellectually curious men and women, and to prepare them for lives of professional and community service and creative, ethical action. Butler is one of the top 20 US colleges for producing business executives, is in the top 10% for preparing future Ph.D.s and is located in the Number 2 city for college graduates starting a career. Although the thriving city of Indianapolis has once again grown to surround Butler University, the 290-acre campus remains a serenely beautiful area with 20 buildings, playing fi elds, a formal botanical garden, and a nature preserve surrounded by wellestablished residential communities. Located only fi ve miles from The Circle, the heart of the city, the campus offers easy access to cultural and sporting events in downtown Indianapolis. Butler s mission is to provide the highest quality of liberal and professional education and to integrate the liberal arts into profession education by creating, and fostering a stimulating intellectual community built upon interactive dialogue and inquiry among faculty and students. Butler University is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. The University is licensed for teacher training by the State Department of Education in Indiana and appears on the approved list of the American Association of University Women Butler Basketball 3

5 Hinkle Fieldhouse College Basketball s ORIGINAL PALACE Hinkle Fieldhouse has reigned as one of the nation s great sports arenas for more than eight decades. The classic facility was constructed in 1928 and it has I still think after all these years that it s stood up to the test of time, maintaining the splendor, character and atmosphere the best basketball court in America. It s that made it one of the nation s most famous basketball arenas more than half absolutely the best I ve ever played on. a century ago. The Fieldhouse, which remained virtually unchanged for more than 60 years, --NBA/ABA All-Star George McGinnis, speaking received a major facelift during the summer of Among the changes to of the basketball court in Hinkle Fieldhouse. the historical building were new chairback seats in the lower arena, new doors and windows on the south side of the exterior, new basketball offices, a training room and locker rooms off the main arena, a VIP lounge, repaved parking lot, outside landscaping, extensive interior painting and a new public address system In more recent years, the Fieldhouse has received a new weight room, new football offices, sports information/marketing offices, administrative offices and a state-of-the-art sound system. All of the renovations have been geared toward upgrading the facility, while retaining the history and nostalgia of the home of Hoosier Hysteria. The original construction of Butler Fieldhouse was part of a massive project designed to give Butler one of the finest athletic plants in the nation. The project was financed by a corporation of 41 prominent and farsighted Indianapolis businessmen. Completion of the Fieldhouse was guaranteed when Butler signed a lease agreement with the Indiana High School Athletic Association allowing the high school state tournament to be Constructed in 1928, Hinkle Fieldhouse is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. played in the massive new facility. Butler s association with the It s been the site of countless memorable basketball games and many basketball legends, IHSAA continued from 1928 to 1971, with a brief interruption including John Wooden, Oscar Robertson, George McGinnis and Larry Bird, have played on the Hinkle hardwood. during the war years, Butler Basketball

6 Hinkle Fieldhouse Butler played its first basketball game in the Fieldhouse on March 7, 1928, defeating Notre Dame 21-13, in overtime. Since the Fieldhouse was not entirely completed at that time, the building dedication was held off until December 21, The name of the facility was changed in 1966 from Butler Fieldhouse to Hinkle Fieldhouse in honor of Butler s legendary coach and athletic director Paul D. Tony Hinkle, who built the University s athletic tradition over nearly half a century. In addition to being the home of Butler basketball, the Fieldhouse has served as host to six U.S. presidents (Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton), the Billy Graham Crusade, the Sonja Henie Ice Show, four professional basketball teams, the U.S. Olympic basketball trials, the first USSR-USA basketball game, all-star basketball games for the NBA and ABA and the East-West College All-Stars, the nationally-prominent Butler Relays in track, tennis matches of both Bill Tilden and Jack Kramer, the 1982 World Goal Ball Championships, a three-ring circus, several equestrian events, the Roller Derby, a six-day bicycle race, and the popular movie Hoosiers. The building also housed the U. S. military as a barracks during World War II. During the summer of 1987, Hinkle Fieldhouse again received national and international attention as the site for the volleyball competition at the 10th Pan American Games. The largest crowd ever to see a volleyball match in the United States (14,500) gathered in the Fieldhouse to see the USA defeat Cuba in the men s gold medal match. When the Fieldhouse was originally constructed, it was the largest basketball arena in the United States and it retained that distinction for more than 20 years. Renovation in the early 1990 s reduced the seating capacity from 15,000 to around 10,000, but the aura and atmosphere that made Hinkle Fieldhouse the nation s first great basketball arena remains. When Hinkle Fieldhouse opened in 1928, the basketball floor ran east and west, which put more than half the seats at the ends of the court. The court was turned to its current configuration in the early 1930 s. Best Places to Watch College Hoops (according to Street & Smith s College Basketball) 1. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 2. Mackey Arena, Purdue 3. McKale Center, Arizona 4. Rupp Arena, Kentucky 5. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler Hinkle Fieldhouse was the site of the Indiana High School state championship from 1928 to 1971, except during World War II. Legendary games in the Fieldhouse gave birth to Hoosier Hysteria. Site of the climactic final game in HOOSIERS In December of 1985, Hinkle Fieldhouse was turned into a Hollywood stage for the filming of the popular movie Hoosiers, recently named one of the Top 10 sports movies ever. Hoosiers was based on the 1954 Indiana High School state championship game at Butler Fieldhouse when tiny Milan defeated Muncie Central, 32-30, on a last second shot by Bobby Plump Butler Basketball 5

7 The City of Indianapolis Opportunity, Hospitality & SPORTS! Just when it seemed the sporting scene in Indianapolis couldn t get any better, it did! Long recognized as the Amateur Sports Capitol of the World, Indianapolis is in the midst of another sports explosion. From the Indiana Pacers to the Final Four, Peyton Manning and the Super Bowl Champion Colts to the spectacular Victory Field, the Butler Bulldogs, the NCAA, and Conseco Fieldhouse, everywhere you turn sports are booming! It s not surprising. Sports have played a key role in the development of the Hoosier state capital. Indianapolis gained an international reputation as host of the largest single-day sporting event in the world - the Indianapolis 500. In fact, the city hosts the two largest single-day sporting events in the world - the Indy 500 and the All-State 400 at the Brickyard. Indianapolis hosted the Pan American Games in 1987, the NCAA Final Four in 1980, 1991, 1997, 2000 and 2006, the World Gymnastics Championship in 1991, the World Rowing Championships in 1994, the World Basketball Championship in 2002, the World Swimming Championship in 2004, has hosted Olympic trials in swimming, diving, and synchronized swimming, national championships in gymnastics, boxing, track and field, rowing, canoe/kayak, swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, archery and ice skating, and numerous NCAA championships. Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the Indianapolis Colts and the 2010 NCAA Men s Basketball Final Four, opened to rave reviews in August of The Indianapolis Canal Walk runs past museums, parks and residential areas as it heads towards downtown and is a great place to run, walk or just sit down and relax Butler Basketball

8 The City of Indianapolis The Indianapolis 500 is dubbed as the largest single-day sporting event in the world. Indianapolis boasts the Indiana Pacers of the NBA, the Indiana Fever of the WNBA and the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL. The Triple-A Indianapolis Indians play in one of the finest minor league baseball parks in the nation - Victory Field - and the city is called home by the United States Hockey League s Indianapolis Ice. Indy has hosted the 1993 U. S. Women s Open Professional Golf Tournament, the 1991 PGA, and the Brickyard Crossing Senior Golf Classic and will host the 2005 Solheim Cup. The Indianapolis Tennis Championships at the Indianapolis Tennis Center has become one of the major tennis tournaments in the world. The Hoosier capital houses the headquarters for numerous national amateur sports governing bodies, including the United States Gymnastics Federation, USA Track and Field, U. S. Diving, U. S. Synchronized Swimming and the United States Rowing Association. The Horizon League headquarters is located in Indianapolis and the NCAA national office moved to Indianapolis in 2001 Not surprisingly, Indianapolis features a wide array of world-class sports facilities. The brand new 63,000 seat Lucas Oil Stadium is home to the Indianapolis Colts and will host the 2010 NCAA Men s Basketball Final Four. The Indiana Pacers play in the 18,500-seat Conseco Fieldhouse. The city is home to the Indiana University Natatorium, featuring one of the fastest swimming pools in the world, the state-of-the-art National Institute for Fitness and Sport, the Indianapolis Tennis Center which houses 24 tennis courts and an 8,000-seat stadium, the 12,500-seat IU Track and Field Stadium, the Major Taylor Velodrome, historic Hinkle Fieldhouse and Victory Field. The Circle Centre mall features more than 100 shopping, dining and entertainment options in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. Conseco Fieldhouse, which is home of the Indiana Pacers (NBA) and Indiana Fever (WNBA), is modeled after historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. Monument Circle is located in the center of downtown and has come to symbolize the city of Indianapolis Butler Basketball 7

9 Being a Bulldog The Locker Room At Hinkle Fieldhouse Whether its fi nding a great place to relax or study between classes or prepare for the next grueling competition on the Hinkle Fieldhouse fl oor, the Butler women s basketball locker room is the place to be. The multi-functional locker room is located adjacent to the Butler women s basketball offi ces, training room and the main fl oor of Hinkle Fieldhouse. The facility features a lounge area with desk space and laptops with internet access for studying as well as couches, a projection TV with surround sound, DVD, microwave and refrigerator for breaks. The locker area is set off from the lounge area and boasts large wooden lockers and ample space for storage of equipment and belongings. A shower area and restroom facilities are located directly across from the locker area. Travel in Style The Bulldogs will use one of the fi nest fl eets of bus transportation for road games through Pyramid Luxury Coach. The 45-foot coach features fl at panel TVs with DVD/VCR players and satellite dish, a kitchenette with refrigerator, microwave and sink and an on-board restroom. Each player chair is a high-back leather bucket seat with cup holders and cell phone charger outlets. Wireless internet access is also available throughout the coach Butler Basketball

10 Being a Bulldog Community Outreach The Butler women s basketball team has always had a hand in helping out in the community, especially during head coach Beth Couture s tenure. In fact, the Bulldogs were the recipient of the Horizon League s Community Outreach Award in both 2003 and Most recently, the Bulldogs have assisted at the Special Olympics Area 8 Bowling Championships at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. Members of the team and coaching staff helped out as lane assistants, runners and scorers for the event and presented the awards to the winners. Additionally, the team has held canned food drives, visited area schools and hospitals, hosted a Halloween Safe Night and much more! Community Service in Home Runs for Charity at Pike High School Basketball Clinic in Columbus, Ind. Bookin With The Bulldogs reading program Worked with Habitat for Humanity Read to kids at Kiddie Koop Helped with United Christmas Service Collected canned foods for Gleaners Food Pantry Are You Smarter Than a 5th grader? at Central Elementary School The Bulldogs assisted at the Special Olympics Area 8 Bowling Championships in Indianapolis in Head coach Beth Couture and forward Melanie Thornton helped kick off the Bookin With The Bulldogs reading program at Outback Steakhouse this year. The Butler basketball team helped out wrapping presents at the North Central Church of Christ for families in need during the holiday season Butler Basketball 9

11 The Horizon League One Pan American Plaza 201 S. Capitol Ave., Suite 500 Indianapolis, IN (317) Fax - (317) Celebrating its 30th anniversary in , the Horizon League continues to aspire toward its goal of being one of the nation s leading athletics conferences while being recognized as a leader in the development of student-athletes as leaders and role models. The Horizon League membership features ten public and private institutions that have impressive academic reputations and a storied tradition of broadbased athletic programs. Current membership includes Butler University, Cleveland State University, the University of Detroit Mercy, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, Valparaiso University, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State University and Youngstown State University. The Horizon League s primary focus is on adding value to the educational experience through its four platforms of athletic performance, academic achievement, community outreach, and personal responsibility and accountability. It is the League s belief that athletics is a powerful and visible resource tool that can be used to enhance student-athletes collegiate experience. The Horizon League s goals are to enhance the holistic university experience for the student-athlete, to create an affi liation of institutions with similar athletic goals, and to adhere to the principals of integrity, diversity, excellence and growth. The Horizon League sponsors competition in 19 sports nine for men (baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, indoor track and fi eld, outdoor track and fi eld and tennis) and ten for women (basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, indoor track and fi eld, outdoor track and fi eld, tennis and volleyball). In all sports, all teams participate in their respective postseason League championships regardless of regular-season performance, allowing all student-athletes an opportunity to qualify for NCAA championships. The League receives automatic bids to NCAA championships in baseball, men s and women s basketball, men s golf, men s and women s soccer, softball, men s and women s tennis, and women s volleyball. The Horizon League is headquartered in Indianapolis, the Amateur Sports Capital of the World, with offi ces in the Pan American Plaza (201 S. Capitol Avenue), located a block from Lucas Oil Stadium and just minutes from Conseco Fieldhouse, the State Capitol Building, Victory Field and the NCAA national offi ce. ATHLETIC SUCCESS In the past few years, the Horizon League has enjoyed unprecedented success on the national stage, highlighted by three Sweet Sixteen appearances (Butler 2003, 2007; Milwaukee 2005) and eight wins in the NCAA Men s Basketball Championship in the past six seasons. In other sports, League teams have won at least one game in their respective NCAA Championships each of the last six seasons in men s soccer (Milwaukee , UIC ), with UIC just one win away from the College Cup in In softball, League teams won a game in the national tournament four straight years earlier in the decade (UIC 2002, 2004; Wright State 2003; Green Bay 2005) while advancing into the second round in women s soccer three of the last four seasons (Detroit 2004, Milwaukee ). Green Bay s women s basketball team added to that résumé with a victory in the 2007 NCAA Women s Basketball Championship. Butler s Victoria Mitchell became the League s fi rst NCAA individual champion when she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships and then fi nished fourth at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships. ACADEMIC SUCCESS Horizon League student-athletes also excel in the classroom as more than 500 have been named to the Academic Honor Roll each of the past seven semesters for carrying a grade-point average of 3.2 or better, including more than 600 for the fall 2007 and spring 2008 semesters. Forty-eight studentathletes were named to ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District teams in , while 14 earned Academic All-America honors, including a pair of fi rst-team selections. VISIBILITY The Horizon League has enhanced its media visibility with a number of initiatives. The League is in the fourth year of a fi ve-year agreement with ESPN that includes selected regular-season men s basketball action (ESPN2) and the men s championship game (ESPN) and features increased exposures each year on ESPNU plus inclusion in the annual O Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters, one of college basketball s premier in-season events. In addition, the Horizon League has partnered with CBS College Sports to provide the offi cial web site at which offers the most comprehensive coverage of Horizon League teams on the net. THE HORIZON LEAGUE NETWORK The Horizon League is a recognized leader in video streaming, through the Horizon League Network (HLN), having produced more than 800 free, live events in the past three years, with plans to web cast more than 400 during the academic year. In addition to live games, HLN includes highlight vignettes of all 19 League championships, weekly highlight videos during the men s and women s basketball season and other special programming covering Horizon League institutions, coaches and student-athletes. Horizon League Demographics Institution Enrollment City Market TV HH (DMA Rank) Butler 4,200 Indianapolis Indianapolis 1,053,750 (25) Cleveland State 16,245 Cleveland Cleveland-Akron (Canton) 1,541,780 (16) Detroit 5,600 Detroit Detroit 1,938,670 (11) Green Bay 5,416 Green Bay, Wis. Green Bay-Appleton 432,810 (69) Loyola 14,764 Chicago Chicago 3,430,790 (3) Milwaukee 28,000 Milwaukee, Wis. Milwaukee 880,390 (33) UIC 24,541 Chicago Chicago 3,430,790 (3) Valparaiso 4,000 Valparaiso, Ind. Chicago 3,430,790 (3) Wright State 17,074 Dayton, Ohio Dayton 513,610 (59) Youngstown State 12,898 Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown 276,720 (102) Butler Basketball