Northwestern University Athletics
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Burton Wins Second Defensive Player of the Year Award to Highlight B1G Honors
3/8/2021 4:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball
EVANSTON, Ill. – Junior guard Veronica Burton was named the 2021 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year by both the coaches and the media for the second straight season.
Burton becomes the fifth player in conference history to have won the honor twice, along with fellow Wildcats Ashley Deary in 2016 and 2017. Burton additionally earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team for both the coaches and media and was a unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team for the coaches and media. Burton has two All-Big Ten selections after a second team nod in 2020 and two All-Defensive teams under her belt.
Senior guard Lindsey Pulliam was named to the All-Big Ten second team for both the coaches and media. Pulliam has now earned All-Big Ten honors in each of her four seasons, with two first team selections in 2019 and 2020 and an honorable mention in 2018.
Junior guard Sydney Wood was named to the All-Big Ten defensive team by the coaches and was named All-Big Ten honorable mention by the media. She now has two All-Big honorable mentions after earning one from the media in 2020.
Senior guard Brooke Pikiell earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship award.
Burton currently leads the nation in steals per game with 4.2 and outpaces the next player in the country in the category by 0.4 steals per game. Burton and Wood have also contributed to Northwestern's turnover margin of +10.3, which leads the country.
Burton ranks second all-time in Northwestern history in career steals with 264 as a junior, and is 63 steals off of the top ten career list in the Big Ten. With 83 steals this season, she currently is tied for the sixth most steals in a season in program history, and now has three entries on that list in three seasons, with two of her seasons being shortened due to COVID-19 (2019-20 and 2020-21).
Burton is seventh on the active career leaderboard in NCAA Division I, with the six players in front of her all seniors. Burton has reached her mark of 264 in just 81 games while the next lowest games played total in the top ten is 111. Burton's career steals per game average of 3.26 ranks third out of all active NCAA players, and she is the only junior on that top ten list.
Burton also garnered and All-Big Ten first team selection in part due to an offensive leap paired with her established defensive talent. Burton averaged 16.6 points, 4.9 assists and 4.9. rebounds per game. She improved her scoring average by five points from her sophomore season, and her assists per game average ranks in the top-50 nationally. Burton is one of 11 players nationally this season to record multiple quadruple-nickels, that is at least five or more points, assists, rebounds and steals in a game, and she is one of five players to record a quadruple nickel with no turnovers.
Pulliam earned her fourth All-Big Ten Selection after another steady scoring season, as she averaged 16.0 points and a career-best 5.4 rebounds per game. Despite the departures of post-players Abi Scheid and Abbie Wolf, Pulliam was able to shoulder a large burden of the offense aand continue her climb up the Northwestern record books. She now has 1956 career points and is 44 away from becoming the third Wildcat in program history to score 2,000.
Wood landed on the Big Ten All-Defensive team after ranking third in the conference with 2.7. steals per game with. Along with Burton, no two teammates in the country have combined for more steals per game, and as a team Northwestern ranks sixth in the country in steals per game. Wood also received her second All-Big Ten honorable mention after improving from, her sophomore to junior season with 2020-21 averages of 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. Wood's jump of over seven points per game in her scoring average was one of the best year-to-year improvements in the Big Ten.
The Wildcats now enter the postseason with their eyes set on a run at both the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. The 'Cats kick off action in Indianapolis on Wednesday as a the No. 5 seed, when they will face the winner of Illinois/Wisconsin in game two of the day at approximately 12:20 p.m. CT.
Burton becomes the fifth player in conference history to have won the honor twice, along with fellow Wildcats Ashley Deary in 2016 and 2017. Burton additionally earned a spot on the All-Big Ten First Team for both the coaches and media and was a unanimous selection to the Big Ten All-Defensive Team for the coaches and media. Burton has two All-Big Ten selections after a second team nod in 2020 and two All-Defensive teams under her belt.
Senior guard Lindsey Pulliam was named to the All-Big Ten second team for both the coaches and media. Pulliam has now earned All-Big Ten honors in each of her four seasons, with two first team selections in 2019 and 2020 and an honorable mention in 2018.
Junior guard Sydney Wood was named to the All-Big Ten defensive team by the coaches and was named All-Big Ten honorable mention by the media. She now has two All-Big honorable mentions after earning one from the media in 2020.
Senior guard Brooke Pikiell earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship award.
Burton currently leads the nation in steals per game with 4.2 and outpaces the next player in the country in the category by 0.4 steals per game. Burton and Wood have also contributed to Northwestern's turnover margin of +10.3, which leads the country.
Burton ranks second all-time in Northwestern history in career steals with 264 as a junior, and is 63 steals off of the top ten career list in the Big Ten. With 83 steals this season, she currently is tied for the sixth most steals in a season in program history, and now has three entries on that list in three seasons, with two of her seasons being shortened due to COVID-19 (2019-20 and 2020-21).
Burton is seventh on the active career leaderboard in NCAA Division I, with the six players in front of her all seniors. Burton has reached her mark of 264 in just 81 games while the next lowest games played total in the top ten is 111. Burton's career steals per game average of 3.26 ranks third out of all active NCAA players, and she is the only junior on that top ten list.
Burton also garnered and All-Big Ten first team selection in part due to an offensive leap paired with her established defensive talent. Burton averaged 16.6 points, 4.9 assists and 4.9. rebounds per game. She improved her scoring average by five points from her sophomore season, and her assists per game average ranks in the top-50 nationally. Burton is one of 11 players nationally this season to record multiple quadruple-nickels, that is at least five or more points, assists, rebounds and steals in a game, and she is one of five players to record a quadruple nickel with no turnovers.
Pulliam earned her fourth All-Big Ten Selection after another steady scoring season, as she averaged 16.0 points and a career-best 5.4 rebounds per game. Despite the departures of post-players Abi Scheid and Abbie Wolf, Pulliam was able to shoulder a large burden of the offense aand continue her climb up the Northwestern record books. She now has 1956 career points and is 44 away from becoming the third Wildcat in program history to score 2,000.
Wood landed on the Big Ten All-Defensive team after ranking third in the conference with 2.7. steals per game with. Along with Burton, no two teammates in the country have combined for more steals per game, and as a team Northwestern ranks sixth in the country in steals per game. Wood also received her second All-Big Ten honorable mention after improving from, her sophomore to junior season with 2020-21 averages of 12.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 blocks per game. Wood's jump of over seven points per game in her scoring average was one of the best year-to-year improvements in the Big Ten.
The Wildcats now enter the postseason with their eyes set on a run at both the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. The 'Cats kick off action in Indianapolis on Wednesday as a the No. 5 seed, when they will face the winner of Illinois/Wisconsin in game two of the day at approximately 12:20 p.m. CT.
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