July 6, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
Over the past three years, senior Tiffany Hudson has been a pillar in the Illinois State women's basketball program. Head coach Robin Pingeton has named Hudson as the recipient of the 2007 Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship for her dedication to Redbird basketball and her excellence as a student. The award is named for Hutchison, the former Redbird basketball coach who was a pioneer and advocate for women in sports throughout her coaching career.
"When I think about the words that describe Jill Hutchison and what she has done for this program, this university, and this community, I think of words such as leader, driven, committed, compassionate, caring and disciplined," Pingeton said. "Those are all words that I could use to describe Tiffany Hudson. Four years ago when we recruited Tiffany we sat down in my office and talked about our vision for this program. Tiffany has worked very hard on and off the court to help us turn the corner with this program. She has been a great leader for us and has played an instrumental role in our success."
During her three years at Illinois State, Hudson has appeared in all 92 games played. She owns a 1.24 assist-to-turnover ratio, putting her in a tie for seventh on the school's career list. Her scoring average, assists, field goal percentage, and three-point field goal percentage have improved each year.
Last season, Hudson set career-bests for points, assists, three-point field goals and three-point percentage. She scored a career-high 18 points to go along with a career-best nine assists against Chicago State. She matched that assist total later in the year against Evansville, and scored 15 points.
As a freshman, Hudson became just the eighth player in school history to record more assists than turnovers. She started the final 18 games of her sophomore season, averaging 5.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in those games. She recorded four or more assists in 12 games. Hudson and teammate Kristi Cirone each had 1.58 assist-to-turnover ratios on the year, becoming the first duo with better than 1.50 assist-to-turnover ratios in the same season in Illinois State history. She ranked in the top-10 in the Missouri Valley Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio, assists per game and assists in conference games.
"I am honored by this," Hudson said. "Jill Hutchison is a great woman and very influential in women's basketball. It feels great to have my name associated with hers in any way. It is such a great honor to get an endowed scholarship like this."
Not only did Hutchison coach both basketball and softball at Illinois State, she also helped blaze a trail for future female athletes with her groundbreaking research on the full-court women's game. Now a Redbird basketball radio and Missouri valley Conference television analyst, Hutchison compiled a 461-323 record in her 28 seasons in Normal.
The Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship is one of 16 endowed scholarships available to Illinois State student-athletes funded by private donors. Eight of them are already fully-funded, including the Jill Hutchison Endowed Scholarship. For more information about supporting Illinois State University endowments for student-athletes, contact The Redbird Club office at 309/438-3803.
