Heather Butler (basketball)

Heather Butler (born November 7, 1993) is an American professional basketball player and coach. In 2019, she won the Icelandic championship and the Icelandic Cup with Valur. She previously played in the WNBA for the San Antonio Stars.[1]

Heather Butler
Personal information
Born (1991-11-07) November 7, 1991
NationalityAmerican
Listed height5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Listed weight128 lb (58 kg)
Career information
High schoolGibson County
(Dyer, Tennessee)
CollegeTennessee-Martin (2010–2014)
Playing career2014–present
PositionGuard
Number11, 12
Career history
As player:
2014San Antonio Stars
2014–2015MKK Siedlce
2017–2018Uppsala Basket
2018–2019Valur
As coach:
2015–2016Tennessee-Martin (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
As player:

College career

Butler played college basketball for Tennessee-Martin, helping the school to four Ohio Valley Conference titles.[1] She finished her career as the top scorer in UT Martin and Ohio Valley Conference history with 2,865 points which ranked 16th on the NCAA's all-time leaderboard. She was named the 2014 OVC Player of the Year, and ranked ninth in the country in scoring with 23.6 points per game. She scored in double figures in 129 consecutive games, every game of her career, ranking as the second longest streak in NCAA history,[2] and tied a then NCAA three-point record with 392 career three-pointers made.[3]

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2014 WNBA draft, Butler signed a training camp contract with the San Antonio Stars.[4] She went on to appear in 11 games for the Stars during the 2014 season. In July 2014, Butler signed Polish club MKK Siedlce.[5][6]

In 2016, Butler participated in the Connecticut Sun training camp.[1]

She joined Uppsala Basket of the Swedish Basketligan dam in January 2017 where she went on to average 21.7 points in 14 games. She returned to Uppsala for the 2017–2018 season and averaged 21.9 points and 5.1 assists per game in 22 games.[7]

In November 2018, Butler signed with Valur of the Icelandic Úrvalsdeild kvenna, replacing Brooke Johnson.[8] On 16 February 2019, she won the Icelandic Cup after Valur defeated Stjarnan in the Cup finals, 74–90. In the game, Butler had 15 points and 8 assists.[9] On 27 April 2019, she helped Valur win its first ever national championship after beating Keflavík in the Úrvalsdeild finals 3-0.[10] In 29 regular season and playoffs games, Butler averaged 21.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.

Coaching career

In 2015, Butler was hired as an assistant coach at Tennessee-Martin.[11]

References
  1. Brandon Shields (23 April 2016). "Butler gets another shot at WNBA". Jackson Sun. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  2. Jeff Bidwell (21 April 2014). "UT Martin's Butler signs with WNBA team". WPSD Local 6. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  3. Joseph Zucker (17 April 2015). "WNBA Draft 2015 Results: Complete Round-by-Round Selections and Twitter Reaction". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
  4. "Heather Butler signed to San Antonio Stars training camp". The Pacer. 21 April 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  5. "UTM's Heather Butler signs with Polish basketball team". Jackson Sun. 24 July 2014. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. Craig Thomas (30 May 2015). "Heather Butler discusses pro ball, UTM, coaching". Jackson Sun. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  7. "Heather Butler" (in Swedish). basket.se. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  8. "Bandarískur methafi til Vals". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 7 November 2018. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  9. "Valur bikarmeistari í fyrsta sinn". RÚV (in Icelandic). 16 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  10. Valur Páll Eiríksson (27 April 2019). "Valskonur Íslandsmeistarar í fyrsta sinn". RÚV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  11. Craig Thomas (27 May 2015). "Heather Butler returns to UT Martin as coach". Jackson Sun. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
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