Women's Basketball | 12/11/2017 1:04:00 PM
FAIRFAX, Va. - Once again, the Atlantic 10 Conference women's basketball weekly honors featured plenty of George Mason representation.
Graduate student
Natalie Butler shared A-10 Co-Player of the Week honors with Duquesne's Julijana Vojinovic for the second straight week. It was the fourth straight week that Butler had been named the player of the week. In addition, freshman guard
Nicole Cardaño-Hillary was tabbed A-10 Rookie of the Week for the second time in three weeks.
Butler averaged 18.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in a pair of wins last week as the Patriots improved to 9-2 for their best start in 25 years. She also made the game-winning free throws late in overtime of a 73-70 victory over LIU Brooklyn on Thursday. The 6-foot-5 center scored 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting, grabbed 19 rebounds and dished out three assists against the Blackbirds. Her two free throws with 19 seconds remaining in overtime broke a 68-68 tie and put the Patriots in front for good.
Her 19 rebounds were the most in her time at Mason and most by a Patriot in more than four years. The Fairfax Station, Va., native, capped off the weekend with her 10th straight double-double, which leads the nation, with 13 points and 12 rebounds against Eastern Kentucky in a 64-41 victory on Saturday.
She scored 12 points in the second half and shot 5-of-7 from the field after halftime. She ranks second in the A-10 in rebounding (13.7 rpg) and third in scoring (18.1 ppg).
Cardaño-Hillary averaged 20.5 points, three steals and two assists in a pair of home wins last week. The point guard from Madrid, Spain scored 23 points and made a game-tying layup with 11 seconds remaining to force overtime against over LIU Brooklyn on Thursday. She also set a career high with nine made free throws, including two with nine seconds to go in overtime for a game-clinching four-point lead. She also nabbed four steals and dished out three assists.
On Saturday, she scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers against Eastern Kentucky. She was 6-of-14 from the field and also had a pair of steals. She has scored in doubled figures in all 11 games of her career and ranks second in the Atlantic 10 in scoring with 18.2 points a game.
The Patriots wrap up a four-game homestand when they welcome in UMBC at 7 p.m. on Monday at EagleBank Arena.
