Women's Basketball: Perry, Butterfield named GNAC All-Conference

(Winthrop, Mass.) The Great Northeast Athletic Conference unveiled their annual Women's Basketball All-Conference teams and major award winners this afternoon as two Rivier University seniors have been selected to the All-Conference teams. Seniors Caitlyn Perry (Nashua, N.H.) and Savanna Butterfield (Londonderry, N.H.) were both tabbed to the Conference's Second Team while Butterfield was named the GNAC's Defensive Player of the Year.

Butterfield was dominating all season for the Raiders, despite playing most of the second half with an injury to her shooting hand. The former GNAC Rookie of the Year in 2014 swatted away 61 shots in 2016-17 while averaging 9.8 rebounds per game. She also recorded 48 steals and scored 11.3 points per game. Butterfield became the first Rivier Women's Basketball student-athlete to record a triple-double when she registered 16 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the team's 70-64 win over Anna Maria on December 3rd. She followed that effort with another triple-double on February 4th in Rivier's 76-54 win over Lasell. Butterfield netted 11 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists that afternoon and she also recorded eight other double-doubles on the season. This is the third consecutive year that Butterfield was named the GNAC All-Conference team as she garnered third team selections in 2015 & 2016.

Perry was selected to her first All-Conference team as she was tabbed a Second Team member in 2017. The veteran point guard finished with 16 points per game, second on the team to sophomore Kaylee Kacavas' (Dracut, Mass.) 16.2 ppg, for a total of 335 points. She also stepped up her game within conference competition as she netted 17.6 points per game while dishing out 34 assists.

Senior Kayla Davis (Wareham, Mass.) was also named to the GNAC's All-Sportsmanship team.

The 2016-17 edition of the Rivier Women's Basketball team finished the season with an overall record of 10-15 and a 7-9 mark in the GNAC. Over their four year careers, both Perry and Butterfield saw their teams combine for a 50-54 overall record, 26-23 record vs the GNAC and three GNAC Tournament appearances and one ECAC appearance.