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Home , Butler Bulldogs, George McGinnis, The Butler Way, Victory Field

22007-08007-08 ButlerButler BasketballBasketball

TABLE OF CONTENTS Roster and Pronunciation Guide ...... IFC Letter from Coach Couture ...... 1 Welcome to Butler ...... 2-3 ...... 4-5 Being a Bulldog ...... 6 The City of ...... 7 From The Desk Of The ...... 8 HEAD COACH BETH COUTURE 2007-08 OUTLOOK Season Outlook ...... 10-11 Pre-Season Information...... 12 Media Information ...... 12 Welcome to Butler Women’s ! THE COACHES Head Coach Beth Couture ...... 14-15 Associate Head Coach Gene Hill ...... 16 Success is a Choice. I have used this saying throughout my coaching career Assistant Coach Amy Cherubini ...... 17 – and at no other place has it had more meaning than here at Butler. Assistant Coach Rachel Bullard ...... 18 As we embark on the 2007-08 season, I fi nd myself refl ecting upon the past THE PLAYERS seasons - where we were, and where we are today. Our improvement from Seniors season to season has been a steady, upward climb. Last year, we found Candace Bain ...... 20-21 ourselves near the top of the conference standings, playing in the championship Cassie Freeman ...... 22-23 game, and one win away from the NCAA tournament. Our staff and players have made a commitment to be successful. Juniors Lade Akande...... 24-25 Candyce Brown ...... 26-27 While we continue to focus on winning the Horizon League Championship and Candace Jones...... 28-29 receiving an NCAA Tournament berth, our greater commitment is to develop Tara Miller ...... 30-31 and prepare our student-athletes for a successful life after graduation. We anticipate that will follow them throughout their career, both Sophomores on and off the court. Susan Lester ...... 32-33 Melanie Thornton ...... 34-35 I hope that you enjoy this media guide. May it serve as a tool to familiarize you with Women’s Basketball. When you review it, I think Newcomers you’ll see why we are excited about this upcoming season. Azjah Bass...... 36 Brittany Bowen ...... 37 Terra Burns ...... 38 GO DAWGS!! Chloe Hamilton ...... 39 Amie Kabara ...... 40 Jenny Ostrom ...... 41

Support Staff and Services ...... 42 Beth Couture 2006-07 IN REVIEW Head Coach Season in Review ...... 44-45 Butler Women’s Basketball 2006-07 Statistics and Results ...... 46

OPPONENTS 2007-08 Opponents ...... 48-52 2007-08 Tournaments ...... 52 Results vs. 2007-08 Opponents ...... 53 All-Time Series Records ...... 54

HISTORY & RECORDS All-Time Roster/Notables ...... 56 Honors and Awards ...... 57 Yearly Leaders ...... 58 Credits: The 2007-08 Butler women’s basketball media guide was designed, written and updated Single Game Records ...... 59 by Chris Urban, assistant sports information director. Design and editing assistance provided by Jim McGrath, Associate AD for Communications, and Sally Cutler, director of print marketing and Single Season Records ...... 60-61 communications. Additional assistance provided by Joe Gentry and Janell Callahan. Cover design Career Records ...... 62-63 by Alisha Luckenbill of the Butler publications offi ce. Head shots and team photo by Bill McAdow. Action photography and campus images by Brent Smith. Special thanks to the Horizon League On The Road With Butler Basketball ...... IBC and Visual Sports Network. Printing by Multi-Ad, Peoria, Ill.

2007-082007-08 ButlerButler BasketballBasketball • 1 BButlerutler UniversityUniversity

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 4,400 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 , 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 . 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.

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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 well- established 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 . 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.

2007-082007-08 ButlerButler BasketballBasketball • 3 HHinkleinkle FieldhouseFieldhouse

College Basketball’s ORIGINAL PALACE

Hinkle Fieldhouse has reigned as one of the nation’s great sports arenas for more than seven 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 a century ago. absolutely the best I’ve ever played on.” 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 1989. 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 offi ces, 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 More recently, the Fieldhouse has received a new weight room, new football offi ces, sports information/marketing offi ces, and administrative offi ces. All of the renovations have been geared toward upgrading the facility, while retaining the history and nostalgia of the home of “.” The original construction of Butler Fieldhouse was part of a massive project designed to give Butler one of the fi nest athletic plants in the nation. The project was fi nanced 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 played in the massive new facility. Butler’s association with the Constructed in 1928, Hinkle Fieldhouse is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. IHSAA continued from 1928 to 1971, with a brief interruption It’s been the site of countless memorable basketball games and many basketball legends, during the war years, 1943-45. including , , George McGinnis and , have played on the Hinkle hardwood.

4 • 2007-082007-08 ButlerButler BasketballBasketball HHinkleinkle FieldhouseFieldhouse

Butler played its fi rst 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, 1928. 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 four U.S. presidents (Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford), the Billy Graham Crusade, the Sonja Henie Ice Show, four professional basketball teams, the U.S. Olympic basketball trials, the fi rst 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 When Hinkle Fieldhouse opened in 1928, the basketball fl oor ran east and Derby, a six-day bicycle race, and the popular movie “Hoosiers.” The building west, which put more than half the seats at the ends of the court. The also housed the U. S. military as a barracks during World War II. court was turned to its current confi guration in the early 1930’s. 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 (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 fi rst great basketball arena remains. Best Places to Watch College Hoops (according to 1998-99 Street & Smith’s College Basketball)

1. Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke 2. , Purdue 3. McKale Center, Arizona 4. Rupp Arena, Kentucky Hinkle Fieldhouse was the site of the Indiana High School state champion- 5. Hinkle Fieldhouse, Butler ship from 1928 to 1971, except during World War II. Legendary games in the Fieldhouse gave birth to “Hoosier Hysteria.”

Site of the climactic fi nal game in “HOOSIERS”

In December of 1985, Hinkle Fieldhouse was turned into a Hollywood “Hoosiers” was based on the 1954 Indiana High School state cham- stage for the fi lming of the popular movie “Hoosiers,” recently named pionship game at Butler Fieldhouse when tiny Milan defeated Muncie one of the “Top 10” sports movies ever. Central, 32-30, on a last second shot by Bobby Plump.

2007-082007-08 ButlerButler BasketballBasketball • 5 BBeingeing a BulldogBulldog

Community Outreach The Butler women’s basketball team has al- ways had a hand in helping out in the communi- ty. In fact, the Bulldogs were the recipient of the Horizon League’s Community Service Award in both 2003 and 2005. Last season, the Bulldogs assisted at the Special Olympics Area 8 Bowl- ing Championships at Woodland Bowl in India- napolis. 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, hosted a Halloween Safe Night and visited area schools and hospitals.

Travel in Style 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 com- petition on the Hinkle Fieldhouse fl oor, the Butler women’s basket- ball 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 The Bulldogs will use one of the fi nest fl eets of bus Fieldhouse. The facility features transportation for road games through Pyramid a lounge area with desk space Luxury Coach. The 45-foot coach features fl at panel and laptops with internet access TVs with DVD/VCR players and satellite dish, a kitch- for studying as well as couches, a enette with refrigerator, microwave and sink and an projection TV with surround sound, on-board restroom. Each player chair is a high-back DVD, microwave and refrigerator leather bucket seat with cup holders and cell phone for breaks. The locker area is set charger outlets. Wireless internet access is available off from the lounge area and boasts throughout the coach. large wooden lockers and ample space for storage of equipment and belongings. A shower area and re- stroom facilities are located directly across from the locker area.

6 • 2007-082007-08 ButlerButler BasketballBasketball TThehe CityCity ofof IndianapolisIndianapolis

Opportunity, Hospitality and . . . SPORTS! Just when it seemed the sporting scene in 2000 and 2006, the World Gymnastics Indianapolis couldn’t get any better, it did! Long Championship in 1991, the World Row- recognized as the “Amateur Sports Capitol of the ing Championships in 1994, the World World”, Indianapolis is in the midst of another sports Basketball Championship in 2002, the explosion. From the to the Final Four, World Swimming Championship in 2004, Peyton Manning and the Super Bowl Champion Colts has hosted Olympic trials in swimming, to the spectacular Victory Field, the , diving, and synchronized swimming, the NCAA, and Conseco Fieldhouse, everywhere you national championships in gymnastics, turn sports are booming! boxing, track and fi eld, rowing, canoe/ It’s not surprising. Sports have played a key kayak, swimming, diving, synchronized role in the development of the Hoosier state capital. swimming, archery and ice skating, and Indianapolis gained an international reputation as numerous NCAA championships. host of the largest single-day sporting event in the Indianapolis boasts the Indiana world - the Indianapolis 500. In fact, the city hosts Pacers of the NBA, the the two largest single-day sporting events in the world of the WNBA and the - the Indy 500 and the All-State 400 at the Brickyard. of the NFL. The Triple-A Indianapolis Indianapolis hosted the Pan American Games in Indians play in one of the fi nest minor The famed Indianapolis 500 is the world’s largest single-day sporting event, 1987, the NCAA Final Four in 1980, 1991, 1997, league parks in the nation - drawing more than 400,000 fans annually. Victory Field - and the city is called home by the Indianapolis Ice Synchronized Swimming and the United States Row- professional hockey team, the Twisters ing Association. The Horizon League headquarters is indoor soccer team, and the Blast in located in Indianapolis and the NCAA national offi ce outdoor soccer. Indy has hosted the moved to Indianapolis in 2001 1993 U. S. Women’s Open Professional Not surprisingly, Indianapolis features a wide Golf Tournament, the 1991 PGA, and the array of world-class sports facilities. The 60,000-seat Brickyard Crossing Senior Golf Classic RCA Dome is home to the Indianapolis Colts, NCAA and will host the 2005 Solheim Cup. The basketball and numerous other events. The Indiana Indianapolis Tennis Championships at the Pacers play in the 18,500-seat Conseco Fieldhouse. Indianapolis Tennis Center has become The city is home to the Indiana University Natatorium, one of the major tennis tournaments in featuring one of the fastest swimming pools in the the world. world, the state-of-the-art National Institute for Fit- The Hoosier capital houses the head- ness and Sport, the Indianapolis Tennis Center which quarters for numerous national amateur houses 24 tennis courts and an 8,000-seat stadium, sports governing bodies, including the the 12,500-seat IU Track and Field Stadium, the Conseco Fieldhouse, featuring a similar look to legendary Hinkle Field- United States Gymnastics Federation, Major Taylor Velodrome, historic Hinkle Fieldhouse house, is the home of the Indiana Pacers and Fever. USA Track and Field, U. S. Diving, U. S. and Victory Field.

2007-082007-08 ButlerButler BasketballBasketball • 7 TThehe HorizonHorizon LeagueLeague

In its 29th year, the Horizon Founded in 1979 as the Midwestern City Conference with six charter League continues to aspire toward members, the League changed its name to the Midwestern Collegiate its goal of being one of the nation’s Conference in 1985 and added women’s sports for the 1986-87 academic leading athletics conferences while year. Charter members of the conference included current members Butler being recognized as a leader in the and Loyola as well as the University of Evansville, Oklahoma City University, development of student-athletes Oral Roberts University and . Among other current members, as leaders and role models. Detroit joined in 1980 and Cleveland State, UIC, Green Bay, Milwaukee and The Horizon League Wright State came aboard in 1994 in the largest non-merger conference membership features ten public expansion in history, with Youngstown State joining in 2001 and Valparaiso and private institutions that have on July 1, 2007. impressive academic reputations On June 4, 2001, the Horizon League unveiled its current name and and a storied tradition of broad- ushered in a new dynamic direction that has brought the League closer to its based athletic programs. Current stated goal of being one of the nation’s top 10 conferences with a focus on One Pan American Plaza membership includes Butler enhancing the student-athletes experience by upgrading the League’s market 201 S. Capitol Ave., Suite 500 University, Cleveland State and competitive positions. Indianapolis, IN 46225 University, the University of Detroit (317) 237-5622 Mercy, the University of Illinois ATHLETIC SUCCESS Fax - (317) 237-5620 at Chicago, Loyola University In the past few years, the Horizon League has enjoyed unprecedented www.horizonleague.org Chicago, Valparaiso University, success on the national stage, highlighted by three Sweet Sixteen appearances the University of Wisconsin-Green (Butler 2003, 2007; UW-Milwaukee 2005) and seven wins in the NCAA Men’s Bay, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Wright State University and Basketball Championship in the past fi ve seasons. In other sports, League Youngstown State University. teams have won at least one game in their respective NCAA Championships The Horizon League’s primary focus is on adding value to the each of the last fi ve seasons in men’s soccer (UW-Milwaukee 2002-05, UIC educational experience through its four platforms of athletic performance, 2006) and four of the last six in softball (UIC 2002, 2004; Wright State 2003; academic achievement, community outreach, and personal responsibility UW-Green Bay 2005) while advancing into the second round in women’s and accountability. It is the League’s belief that athletics is a powerful and soccer each of the last three (Detroit 2004, UW-Milwaukee 2005-06). Butler’s visible resource tool that can be used to enhance student-athletes’ collegiate Victoria Mitchell became the League’s fi rst NCAA individual champion when experience. The Horizon League’s goals are to enhance the holistic university she won the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the 2005 NCAA Outdoor Track and experience for the student-athlete, to create an affi liation of institutions with Field Championships and then fi nished fourth at the 2005 NCAA Cross Country similar athletic goals, and to adhere to the principals of integrity, diversity, Championships in leading the Butler women to a 24th-place national fi nish. excellence and growth. The Horizon League sponsors competition in 19 sports – nine for men ACADEMIC SUCCESS (baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming and diving, indoor Horizon League student-athletes also excel in the classroom as more track and fi eld, outdoor track and fi eld and tennis) and 10 for women (basketball, than 500 have been named to the Academic Honor Roll each of the past cross country, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, indoor track and fi ve semesters for carrying a grade- average of 3.2 or better. Thirty-one fi eld, outdoor track and fi eld, tennis and volleyball). In all sports, all teams student-athletes were named to ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic participate in their respective postseason League championships regardless All-District teams in 2006-07 and nine earned Academic All-America honors, of regular-season performance, allowing all student-athletes an opportunity including four fi rst-team selections, after boasting 35 academic all-district picks to qualify for NCAA championships. The League receives automatic bids to and eleven Academic All-Americans in 2005-06. 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 VALPO JOINS IN ’07 volleyball. On May 17, 2006, Valparaiso University accepted a membership The Horizon League is headquartered in Indianapolis, the “Amateur invitation to join the Horizon League, marking the fi rst membership change Sports Capital of the World,” with offi ces in the Pan American Plaza (201 since Youngstown State joined in 2001. The Crusaders will compete in 17 of S. Capitol Avenue), located across the street from the RCA Dome and just the League’s 19 sports beginning with the 2007-08 academic year. Valpo’s blocks from Conseco Fieldhouse, the State Capitol Building and the NCAA athletics history is highlighted by seven appearances in the NCAA Men’s national offi ce. Basketball Championship from 1996-2004, including a dramatic trip to the Sweet Sixteen in 1998. 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)

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