The Butler women’s basketball team is out of post-season play with its loss to Toledo in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.

The Bulldogs made postseason appearances in four of the past five years.

Butler’s last postseason win was in 2009 when it defeated Duquesne in the first round of the WNIT.

The Rockets shot just under 43 percent from the floor in their 63-49 win over the Bulldogs.

Butler shot almost 43 percent from behind the arc, going 9-of-21 from 3-point range.

An 11-3 run put Toledo up 55-42, and the Bulldogs could not overcome the deficit.

Butler ends its season with a overall record of 17-14 after going 8-6 in its lone season in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

In college sports, “redshirt” is a common term that is thrown around.

Being redshirted as an athlete means he or she is withheld from competition but does not lose a year of eligibility.

Freshman Sean Horan is on Butler’s football team and was redshirted this year.

Horan said he wanted to play coming into his first collegiate year, but it just didn’t happen.

“(Coach Jeff Voris) pulled me and the three other redshirted linebackers aside after a practice before the season started and told us that we probably won’t have the opportunity to play this year,” Horan said.

“There weren’t really any other options besides redshirting because I knew I wasn’t prepared to play in a college game just yet.”

Sitting on the sidelines was a new experience for Horan, who was used to starting.

“I was understanding and knew that I was making the team better in practice even though I could not go out on the field on Saturdays,” Horan said.

Junior Sarah Hamm is another Butler athlete who was redshirted this year, but in her case, it was due to injury.

Hamm earned all-conference honors last season for the Butler women’s basketball team but had to sit out this season after she tore her ACL.

Hamm said she thought about trying to battle back from her injury, but she decided redshirting was her best option because of the lengthy recovery time.

Players may receive a “medical redshirt” if they appear in less than 30 percent of their team’s competitions.

Hamm can play next year as a senior and can also compete in a fifth year at Butler if she chooses.

Like Horan, Hamm did not let redshirting prevent her from contributing to the team this year.

Hamm was one of the most experienced players on the team and used her knowledge to help others.

“We have such a young team this year that I think having a more seasoned player on the sidelines to help really helped them understand things a little better,” Hamm said. “As a post player, I’m always watching my fellow posts and seeing if there’s anything I can help them with.”

Hamm took a lot away from being sidelined this year.

“I also feel like I’ll be a smarter player because I have been able to sit on the sidelines and watch a lot of basketball, and I think I’ve learned a lot from being an observer,” Hamm said.

Had she recovered from her injury mid-season, she could have given up her redshirt to help the team out this year because receiving a redshirt does not mean a player is ineligible for the entire year.

The best example of this can be found in senior Becca Bornhorst, another women’s basketball player.

Bornhorst, like Hamm, had a medical redshirt but decided to play in the second half of the season.

A redshirt can be lifted from a player if he or she shows significant talent, growth or recovery.

Bornhorst understood due to the delay in her surgery date that even if she waited out this year, she may have missed next year because of the recovery time for her surgery.

Bornhorst had her redshirt lifted because she missed the game of basketball and wanted to help her team.

“I’m not going to be a starter like I was last year, but, you know, I would be a role player if they need me for a few minutes here and there and just be able to play and practice a little bit,” Bornhorst said.

Bornhorst made her first appearance for Butler on Feb. 17 against St. Bonaventure, playing six minutes in the contest.

Regardless of the situation, it is hard for athletes to be taken from the competition and the game they grew up playing.

“I love playing basketball, and that makes it very difficult to sit and watch,” Hamm said. “It’s hard to have something like that taken away from you.”

A former Butler women’s basketball player is among 11 individuals to be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame April 27.

The selection committee chose Melissa (Kilgore) LaGrange, a native of Rushville, Ind., and former point guard for the Butler women’s basketball team, to the women’s induction class of 2013.

LaGrange is part of a class of individuals who made significant contributions to Indiana girls’ high school basketball as players or coaches.

“To be inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is the highest accomplishment you can achieve being an Indiana high school basketball player or high school coach,” said Chris May, Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame executive director.

When inducted, LaGrange will be part of a Hall of Fame consisting of multiple basketball legends, including Oscar Robertson and John Wooden.

LaGrange said she was honored when the organization selected her to this year’s class.
All players and coaches in the Hall of Fame are native to Indiana. Like many Hall of Famers, LaGrange began to play basketball at a very young age.

“It was something always of interest of me,” LaGrange said. “I picked up the ball and kept on playing.
“I played in elementary school, middle school and continued with it through college.”

LaGrange became a basketball star when she played at Rushville Consolidated High School from 1980 to 1983 under Indiana Hall of Fame coach Cinda Rice Brown.

“She was the best point guard as far as her passing abilities,” Brown said. “I have never coached a player in my 31 years of coaching who could see the floor and make unbelievable bounce passes.
“She was also a very good defensive player and a great shooter. And for her stature, she had big hands which gave her great ball control.”

LaGrange recorded 986 points during her career at Rushville.

During that time, LaGrange and the Lady Lions won four state sectional championships, two regional championships and one semi-state championship. The team was also the 1981 state runner-up.

As a sophomore in the 1981 women’s state final, LaGrange recorded 40 points. It was the eighth-most points tallied by a female basketball player in the state final at the time.

“She had great impact on our program,” Brown said. “Every year we felt like we had the potential, barring injuries, to go back to the state finals.”

Unfortunately, LaGrange suffered an ACL injury her senior season at Rushville. The injury caused many college women’s basketball programs to revoke scholarship offers to her.

But one university remained confident in LaGrange and her ability to play basketball.

“When I tore my knee up as a senior, one of the schools that still wanted me and expressed a real desire to have me play was Butler,” LaGrange said.

After LaGrange graduated from Rushville, she continued her basketball career while studying education at Butler.

“The location of Butler and the history of Hinkle Fieldhouse was just a fit for me,” LaGrange said.

LaGrange was the starting point guard all four seasons as a Bulldog. She also became a two-time captain for the team.

During her career at Butler, she notched the all-time assist record of 584. She also remains fifth on the all-time list for steals with 201.

LaGrange said she would not change her decision to go to Butler if she had the chance, adding that she became close friends with her teammates and made everlasting memories.

In 2004, Butler athletics recognized and honored LaGrange by inducting her to the Butler Athletic Hall of Fame.

LaGrange said recognition by Butler and now the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame for her achievements on the court was humbling.

“I never want attention for anything,” LaGrange said. “I played it because I loved the game.”

LaGrange currently lives in Grapevine, Texas.  She is a tutor at Euless Elementary School in Euless, Texas.

The Butler women’s basketball team will be on the road for the third time in four games when it travels to take on Saint Louis Wednesday.

The Bulldogs (15-10, 6-4) are sixth in the Atlantic 10 Conference standings.

All but one of Butler’s conference losses has come on the road.

The Billikens will be competing against the Bulldogs during their annual Education Day game at Chaifetz Arena.

Junior forward Lorreal Jones is the only Saint Louis player that averages double digits in scoring, with 11.3 points per game.

The Bulldogs have three starters who all average more points than Jones.

Junior forward Daress McClung leads Butler in scoring, averaging 16.6 points per game.

Sophomore guard Taylor Schippers averages 13.3 points per game, and sophomore center Liz Stratman posts a 11.5-points-per- game average.

The Billikens are 15th out of 16 teams in the A-10 in scoring, averaging less than 54 points per contest.

The Bulldogs rank sixth in the conference in scoring, averaging a little more than 61 points a game.

Butler is coming off a 64-46 victory over St. Bonaventure at Hinkle Fieldhouse during its Bulldogs Fight Breast Cancer game Sunday.

The ladies wore pink from head to toe, with pink uniforms and new pink Nike shoes to support the fight against breast cancer.

Butler coach Beth Couture is a breast cancer survivor herself.

The festivities were held to support St. Vincent’s Women of Hope.

Couture and her team have previously volunteered for the organization.

McClung led the Bulldogs with  17 points and nine rebounds.

Junior guard Mandy McDivitt and McClung tied for the team lead in assists with five each.

McDivitt and Stratman also added 12 points apiece.

The game also marked the return of the team’s only senior, forward Becca Bornhorst, who had not played since the Bulldogs’ final game of the 2011-12 season against the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Bornhorst recorded six minutes and one offensive rebound in her season debut.

Butler out-rebounded the Bonnies 36-29.

The Bulldogs also shot 50 percent from behind the 3-point line, going 10-for-20.

McDivitt shot 4-for-7 from three-point range.

The Butler women’s basketball team will take on Atlantic 10 Conference foe Charlotte Feb. 13 on the road.

The 49ers have a 7-1 conference record and are currently tied for third in the A-10.

The game between the Bulldogs (14-9, 5-3) and the 49ers will mark the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

A key matchup in the post will feature Butler junior forward Daress McClung and Charlotte senior forward Jennifer Hailey.

McClung and Hailey are both in the top five in scoring and rebounding per game in the A-10.

The two are tied for the lead in blocked shots per game, averaging 2.7 per contest.

Butler has split its last two games, taking down Rhode Island and then falling to George Washington 77-60 in its latest contest.

The Colonials (11-12. 5-4) out-muscled the Bulldogs 45-23 in the rebounding battle.

Butler sophomore guard Hannah Douglas matched her season-high scoring output with 13 points.

The Bulldogs defeated Rhode Island (5-17, 0-7) last Thursday 60-45.