Dec. 30, 2002
Freshman Aiga Bautre has been named the Atlantic 10 Conference's Rookie of the Week the league announced Sunday for the seven-day span ending Saturday, December 28th. And to start the new week, Bautre had a game-high 14 points in the Lady Luck Championship Game on Sunday that the Dukes lost to perennial powerhouse and host Virginia Tech, 66-52, and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Bautre netted a game-high and career-high 19 points in Duquesne's 73-64 win over Loyola (MD) in the first round of the Virginia Tech Lady Luck Classic on Dec. 28 where she shot 7-of-10 from the field, 3-of-5 from behind the arc, and was perfect from the foul line (2-2). She also added a block and one rebound in her 33 minutes of action. In the finals on Sunday, the frosh poured in 14 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out two assists and grabbed one steal. For the two day event, Bautre averaged 16.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and one assist while shooting 60 percent from the floor, 70% from behind the arc and 100% from the charity stripe, downing her first free throw attempts this season in Saturday's win. Senior Beth Friday, who averaged 16.5 points on 53.8% shooting, 12.5 rebounds, four blocks, one assist and one steal, was also named to the Lady Luck All-Tournament Team.
This is the first conference weekly award for the women's squad and second for Duquesne hoops this season (freshman Bryant McAllster was named Rookie of the Week last week).
The 5-9 freshman shooting guard from Latvia entered the starting lineup on Dec. 3 when Duquesne's leading scorer junior Candace Futrell (20.5 ppg) was sidelined with an ankle injury in the fifth minute of DU's win over Robert Morris. Including that contest and the six succeeding games in which Bautre has been in the starting lineup, she is averaging 14.9 points per game on 54.8 percent shooting from the floor and 56.4 percent from behind the arc. She is also averaging 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists and has grabbed three steals and blocked two shots during that stretch. And for the season, Bautre is averaging 13.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting 53.2 percent from the floor and 52.4% from three-point range.
And without Futrell and redshirt senior Khalihah Este-Shehu, the Dukes' leading scorer from the 2000-01 season who has yet to play also because of an injury, DU has rung up a 5-2 record with wins over cross-town rivals Pitt and RMU. The Dukes completed the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 7-3 record and will open the A-10 calendar against La Salle in Philadelphia this Friday, January 3rd at 7 p.m. at the Explorers' Tom Gola Arena.
Bautre prepped at Catholic Central High in Troy, NY, where she led the squad to its first ever Class A New York Public School championship as a senior. She averaged 19.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and was a first team all-state selection.
