AUSTIN MILLER | ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
The Butler women’s basketball team stopped a four-game losing streak this weekend, and in doing so got back to .500 overall for the season.
The Bulldogs (13-13, 9-6) began the weekend with a trip to Villanova University last Friday, and fell 63-52 in Philadelphia, losing their fourth straight game. Butler followed that up, however, with a 65-56 victory at Georgetown University on Sunday to stop the skid.
In the Georgetown victory, junior guard Blaire Langlois poured in 32 points, including a school-record nine three-pointers, earning herself Big East Player of the Week honors. She is just the second player to win the award for Butler since the Bulldogs joined the league last season.
Her steady contributions and leadership have been key in helping Butler improve so dramatically after the turn of the New Year a few weeks ago, and her steady hand again helped them get back to winning last weekend.
Langlois is currently one of two Bulldogs in the top five of the league in minutes per game, averaging 35.0 on the season. She is also one of just two Bulldogs to have played and started in all 26 games so far this season.
Only time will tell if the lack of depth on the Butler bench will become a factor down the stretch as the team enters post-season play in March.
The Bulldogs are off until Sunday, when they enter the final stretch of games at Hinkle Fieldhouse this season, with three coming in the next two weeks.
Sunday’s game will be the annual “pink game” at Hinkle Fieldhouse as the Bulldogs take on rival Xavier University.
In the first meeting this season, Butler held the Musketeers (15-11, 7-8) to 39-percent shooting from the field and just 54 points in a four-point win at Xavier. That was the Bulldogs’ second victory of the season in nationally televised games, both of which came on the road.
With only three games remaining in the regular season, the Bulldogs are three games behind league-leading DePaul University and part of a middle pack separated by mere percentage points overall, making the final contests of the season all the more critical heading into the Big East tournament.
