THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120514
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PATTI WALSH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
From her third Christmas, Kizzy Butler's family knew that basketball would play an integral role in the life of the 2-year-old. But it wasn't until 15 years later, when she earned a full scholarship to Norfolk State University, that they realized how prophetic their ideas were.
As a 17-year-old senior at Churchland High School, Butler has emerged as one of South Hampton Roads' top basketball players, and next year she'll be regarded even higher, filling the void left by a graduating Lisa Rice as the NSU point guard.
``We had made her a toy room for Christmas,'' recalled Sharon, Kizzy's mother and No. 1 fan. ``We bought her every toy you could name. And my uncle came in and threw her this one little blue basketball. She didn't even open the door to the toy room. All she would do was bounce that ball.
``He would say `Shoot it!' and he'd fold his arms in a circle in front of him. I knew that my baby was going to be a basketball star.'' A few years later, Kizzy took her favorite pastime to the neighborhood playground. It was there that she honed the skills that would make her one of the area's most feared defenders, with 92 steals in 11 games this season.
``A lot of boys would be back there playing,'' Butler said. ``You know how they say somebody's got `next'? Well, I just called `next' and they let me play.
``They didn't say anything to me because I was a girl. In fact, they'd even pick me.''
At first, Mom was worried that her only daughter was out of her league. But soon she realized Kizzy fit in with the best of the boys.
``It looked so rough 'cause they were all guys. But they all said she could (play) ball, and I think that helped her out a whole lot, too.''
When Kizzy wasn't out on the playground, she was in the front yard taking her Mom to the hoop that still stands at the end of the driveway.
Mom and daughter haven't gone one-on-one since this summer, when Sharon sprained her ankle attempting one of Kizzy's trademark moves.
Now that Kizzy has blown away the competition at home, she's moved on to bigger and better things, while Mom sits in the stands at every game, watching her daughter aggravate opponents.
Butler has had a hand in one-third of the Truckers' 706 points this season. She is averaging 14.3 points and 6.2 assists per game.
Not bad, but not what Butler expected and not enough to quiet her critics, who say she lacks fundamentals and relies too much on her speed.
``She has a lot of things she needs to work on,'' Norfolk State head coach James Sweat said. ``But naturally, any kid that comes out of high school has a lot of fundamentals to work on. We expect that she'll contribute right away as a freshman.''
Sweat said Butler is an ideal match for the kind of run-and-gun game the Spartans play. In fact, there's a good chance the 5-foot-2 guard could ease her way into the starting lineup.
``You don't have any round-hole, square-peg deals here,'' Churchland coach Duke Conrad said. ``This is a perfect fit for his style of play.''
Butler thinks so, too. But she has been bothered by the way she's played this season. But now that the signing is out of the way, things seem to be back to normal.
``I saw my points average going down because I was worried about signing,'' she said. ``I was all confused, you know.''
Said Conrad, ``It's a double-edged sword. Worrying about signing is the first part, but then after you sign, sometimes you feel like your stats have to live up to the signing.
``In the long run it evens itself out and you start playing, and I think that's where she's at now because she's back in the flow of things.''
With all of the pressure out of the way, Kizzy has rebounded nicely.
Her scoring average has been rising, and even when she wasn't shooting well, she was always a factor on defense.
``Everybody is like, `Your defense is better than your offense,' '' she said. ``It seems like I'm slacking up, but I really don't shoot that much.''
Even if her scoring is down from last year's average, which earned her second team All-Tidewater honors, Butler has helped Churchland. The Truckers are 10-2, atop the Southeastern district and second in the area Top 10.
But after this season, what has been the Truckers' pot of gold will belong to Norfolk State next year.
``I'll have my Norfolk State sweatshirt on,'' Sharon said proudly. ``I'll definitely be there.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT, Staff
Kizzy Butler became a top girls player by competing against boys.
``They didn't say anything to me because I was a girl,'' she said.
by CNB