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April 14, 2002
OXFORD, Ohio-Miami University's women's basketball team officially closed out the 2001-02 season Sunday afternoon in the Shriver Center, celebrating the program's winningest campaign in five seasons with the first annual women's basketball banquet.
Four RedHawks were honored on the day as the first recipients of four team awards. Junior Heather Cusick (Kokomo, Ind./Kokomo), the Mid-American Conference's leading scorer, was named team MVP, while sophomore Melanie Kozlowski (Parma, Ohio/Holy Name), captured the scholar-athlete award, junior Jana Butler (Findlay, Ohio/Liberty-Benton) was named the team's most improved, and sophomore Colleen Day (Independence, Ohio/Holy Name) was named "The Hawk".
Cusick turned in arguably the most productive single-season in Miami history, leading the team in points (524), assists (168), steals (86) and 3-point field goals (73). The junior matched Miami's 21-year old single season scoring record, while establishing new season standards for assists and 3-point field goals. She also notched the fourth-highest single-season steal total in program history, while becoming the first Miami player to amass career totals of 1,000 points, 400 assists and 200 steals. The 2002 MAC Player of the Year, Cusick has already broken Miami's career assist mark and is on pace to eclipse the program standards for points and 3-point field goals in a career.
Kozlowski, an exercise science major, earned the RedHawks' scholar-athlete award after earning the team's highest grade point average. A spot starter and top reserve, Kozlowski played in all 30 games and proved to be a dangerous threat from beyond the 3-point arc. The sophomore's 44 3-point field goals ranked as one of the 10 highest totals in program history, while her 29 treys in conference play ranked ninth in the MAC. Kozlowski ranked fourth on the team in scoring at 8.8 ppg, including a 10.1 ppg average in MAC play.
Butler merited the program's Most Improved Award after experiencing steady improvement in her game for the third straight season. Butler, who started 26 games at center, averaged 7.4 points and 4.5 rebounds per game during the 2001-02 season, increasing her scoring average by better than a point per outing. Butler ranked fourth on the team with 12 double-digit outings and was at her best late in the season, including a MAC Quarterfinal defeat of Western Michigan University in which she poured in 12 points off 6-of-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds.
Day was named "The Hawk", an honor given to the individual that best exemplifies the ideals of hard work, dedication to the program and team ideals. The sophomore, who was twice named MAC East Division Player of the Week and once named MAC Scholar-Athlete of the Week, was one of only two players to start all 30 games. She finished the season first on the team in rebounds (207), second in steals (74) and third in scoring (330). A tenacious player, Day ranked third in the MAC in steals and second in offensive rebounds. She also was honored during the season as a Verizon Academic All-District selection.
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