Arizona Athletics Media Relations Contact: Eric Montgomery ([email protected]) Phone: (520) 621-4283 Cell: (520) 954-4098 2009-10 Schedule Game #16 November Time/Result 5 FORT LEWIS (EX.) W, 75-60 Oregon 8 GRAND CANYON (EX.) W, 83-56 14 at Iona# W, 75-70 (OT) at 15 vs. Miami, Ohio# W, 91-67 21 at San Diego St.$ (The Mtn.) L, 38-57 Arizona 23 OLE MISS W, 65-59 27 at San Diego W, 65-55 December January 16, 2009 4 NEVADA W, 84-67 Record: 8-7, 2-3 2:00 p.m. (MT) Record: 12-4, 3-1 9 NEW MEXICO L, 61-81 Head Coach: Niya Butts McKale Center Head Coach: Paul Westhead 20 at Georgia Tech L, 48-70 Career Record: 20-26 (14,545) Career Record: 297-227 23 at UC Riverside L, 53-65 29 ALABAMA A&M W, 86-50 Tip Off Time Arizona makes a quick return to Olson Court to play the middle game of a three-game January homestand against Oregon this Saturday afternoon. The two teams will meet again in their last-ever 1 UCLA* L, 58-67 matchup at legendary McArthur Court on Thursday, February 11. 3 USC* L, 78-81 (OT) Catch the Action: Entering his second season calling Arizona women's basketball games will be 7 at Washington State* W, 67-60 Derrick Palmer. He will be joined by Alysiah Bond, the Arizona women’s basketball director of 9 at Washington* L, 59-69 operations and former collegiate point guard at The Ohio State University. Wildcat games can be heard 14 OREGON STATE* W, 62-53 live on KTUC AM 1400. All broadcasts will start 15 minutes prior to tip-off for the pre-game show. 16 OREGON* 2:00PM Please visit www.arizonawildcats.com for all of your live stats, audio and video needs. Live stats will 24 ARIZONA STATE* (FSN) 4:00PM also be availabe with a link posted on the Arizona women’s basketball schedule page. 28 at California* 7:00PM Coaches Show: Week two of the Niya Butts Show will broadcast this Monday evening on the 30 at Stanford* 2:00PM flagship station for Arizona women’s basketball, KTUC AM 1400 in Tucson, starting at 7:00 p.m. Play- February by-play man Derrick Palmer will host the show and ask questions to Arizona’s 2nd-year head coach 4 WASHINGTON STATE* 7:00PM about the most recent games as well as the upcoming opponents and get her opinions about the play 6 WASHINGTON* 12:00PM of the Wildcats. The show will most likely broadcast from the Hall of Champions on the northwest end 11 at Oregon* 7:00PM of McKale Center. 13 at Oregon State* 7:00PM Last Time Out: 16 CS NORTHRIDGE 7:00PM Arizona picked up its first conference victory in McKale Center for the 2009-10 season on Thursday evening as the Wildcats fought off visiting Oregon State in a 62-53 decision. 20 at Arizona State* 9:00PM Junior forward Soana Lucet converted 7-of-10 field goal attempts and finished with a game-high 18 25 CALIFORNIA* 7:00PM points to go along with 6 rebounds. Though Arizona allowed 21 offensive rebounds, the Cats 27 STANFORD* 3:00PM committed a season-low 13 turnovers and converted 9-of-12 free throws down the stretch to pick up March the victory. Arizona battled back from a 43-36 deficit by outscoring Oregon State, 26-10, over the last 4 at USC* 7:00PM 13 minutes of the game. Freshman guard Davellyn Whyte tallied all 14 of her points in the second half 6 at UCLA* 12:30PM after missing most of the opening stanza with foul trouble. Reiko Thomas came off the bench and tossed in 12 points while handing out four assists. Haiden Palmer led the way for the Beavers with 15 11-14 Pac-10 Tournament TBA points on 7-of-8 shooting, but logged just 13 minutes before fouling out. Leading scorer Talisa Rhea 20-23 NCAA 1st and 2nd Rounds TBA added 13 points for the Beavers, but made just 4-of-18 field goal attempts and was 0-for-6 from three- 27-30 NCAA Regionals TBA point range. April 4-6 NCAA Final Four TBA Arizona Probables (2009-10 Statistics) Home games in all caps No. Name Ht. Yr. Hometown PPG RPG APG # - Iona Tip-Off Tournament (New Rochelle, NY) Starters $ - JHG Jam (San Diego, Calif.) * Indicates Pac-10 game F 53 Soana Lucet 6-1 Jr. New Caledonia 12.0 7.1 1.3 All times local to site and subject to change F 3 Ify Ibekwe 6-1 Jr. Carson, Calif. 12.5 11.7 3.0 G 12 Brooke Jackson 5-8 So. Mesa, Ariz. 9.6 3.7 2.0 2009-10 Results G 11 Ashley Frazier 5-6 Sr. Dallas, Tex. 3.5 1.6 2.1 G 0 Davellyn Whyte 5-10 Fr. Phoenix, Ariz. 16.3 4.6 2.1 2009-10 Overall Record ........................... 8-7 Reserves 2009-10 Pac-10 Record ........................... 2-3 Home .......................................................... 4-3 G 13 Tasha Dickey 5-10 So. Sandy, Utah 2.5 1.1 0.5 Away......................................................... 3-4 G 25 Reiko Thomas 5-8 So. Harbor City, Calif. 6.2 2.8 1.6 Neutral ....................................................... 1-0 C 42 Amanda Pierson 6-3 Jr. Munden, Kan. 2.0 1.2 0.1 vs. Ranked Teams .................................... 0-2 Head Coach Niya Butts: Team Schedule Second-year head coach Niya Butts took over the Friday, January 15 Arizona program on April 3, 2008 and has been Practice - 12:30pm (McKale) leaving her mark everyday since. Butts came to Saturday, January 16 Tucson after spending five seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky. Oregon game - 2:00pm During her time with the Wildcats, she helped guide Sunday, January 17 the team to a 88-72 record (.550) that included OFF three WNIT appearances and a berth in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. Prior to her time in Lexington, Monday, January 18 Butts was an assistant coach at Michigan State Practice - 9:30am (RJG) during the 2002-03 season. That year, the Tuesday, January 19 Spartans made their first NCAA appearance in six Practice - 12:30pm (McKale) seasons after posting an overall record of 17-12. She began her coaching career at Tennessee Wednesday, January 20 Tech, leading the Golden Eaglettes to back-to-back Practice - 12:30pm (McKale) Ohio Valley Conference regular season titles in 2001 and 2002. 2009-10 Butts is one of many head coaches in the NCAA ranks who played for the legendary Pat Summitt at Pac-10 Standings the University of Tennessee, graduating in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in social work and a minor in psychology. A four-year letterwinner with the Lady Vols, Butts was a two-time NCAA Stanford 4-0 14-1 champion (1997, 1998), three-time winner of the SEC championship (1998, 1999, 2000) and Oregon 3-1 12-4 was chosen the SEC Defensive Player of the Year after her 1997 freshman campaign. She UCLA 3-1 10-5 also excelled in the classroom and was three times named an Academic All-SEC selection USC 3-1 9-6 (1998, 1999, 2000). Washington 3-2 8-7 What Others Know About Niya: Several prominent figures in the women’s basketball scene weighed in following the hiring of ARIZONA 2-3 8-7 Niya Butts to her Arizona post and provided their thoughts on her exploits and abilities. Arizona State 2-3 10-6 Pat Summitt, University of Tennessee Head Coach Oregon State 1-3 9-5 “Niya Butts is one of the bright young coaches in the women’s collegiate game. I see this as California 1-3 7-8 a tremendous opportunity for her to take over the reins of her own program at Arizona and Washington State 0-5 5-11 to compete in one of the nation’s best conferences – the Pac 10. I see her taking the same qualities I saw in her as a player en route to two NCAA Championships – doing all the little things right – and applying them as a head coach at the University of Arizona.” This Week in the Pac-10 Lin Dunn, Indiana Fever Head Coach Thursday, January 14 “Wow, Arizona sure hit the jackpot. The great thing about Niya is that she has the experi- ARIZONA 62, Oregon State 53 ence of playing at the championship level and she has great experience coaching in the Arizona State 73, Oregon 68 SEC. That experience will benefit her in building Arizona into a national power. I can’t think of a better young coach to take over at Arizona. She is the best of the best.” California 60, Washington 43 Stanford 80, Washington State 43 Matthew Mitchell, University of Kentucky Head Coach “I am thrilled for Niya. She is extremely deserving of her position at Arizona. I have worked Saturday, January 16 with no one in my career that has her unique combination of skills to excel as a coach. I Oregon at ARIZONA, 2:00pm have no doubt in my mind that she will turn Arizona into one of the top programs in the Washington at Stanford, 2:00pm (PT) country that will last for many years. She helped take Kentucky from the bottom of the SEC Washington State at California, 2:00pm (PT) to being one of the top-four teams in a short period of time, a testament to her ability to recruit and coach.” Oregon State at Arizona State, 6:30pm Sunday, January 10 Mickie DeMoss, Former Kentucky Head Coach UCLA at USC, 2:30pm (PT) “Niya is certainly one of the game’s up and coming young coaches in the country.