BUTLER TWP — The Butler County Community College women’s basketball team returns an All-American for the first time in program history and who last season was a national leader in rebounding and in scoring.

Moniteau graduate Aslyn Pry in March was named the program’s third National Junior College Athletic Association Division III All-American. She follows Julia Baxter and Mackenzie Craig, who after their final seasons at BC3 in 2017 and in 2019, respectively, received the prestigious postseason honor.

Pry, a 5-foot-10 forward, led players on all 84 Division III programs in rebounding average at 19.6 and was fourth in scoring average at 23.2.

“She is just amazing,” said Lydia Roth, BC3’s first-year interim head coach. “If anyone hasn’t seen her play, she is pretty much unstoppable.

“A lot of times last year she was getting double-teamed, triple-teamed. She really had to work hard. A lot of the numbers that she put up were even more impressive when you consider she wasn’t going up against just one defender.”

An “awesome player” is how teammate Hailey Metzger describes Pry.

“She contributes not only in points, but in rebounds and defense, and she is a big player under the hoop who is really dependable,” Metzger said. “She really lives up to being an All-American. And it’s good for the other players to look up to her and want to play like she does. It will make them work harder, and improve our team as a whole.”

Pry and Metzger are among five sophomores who return from a BC3 squad that in mid-February won the program’s fifth Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference championship since 2016.

The Pioneers finished 10-8 with six players in 2021-2022.

BC3’s season ended with a seven-point loss later in February to Prince George’s Community College, Largo, Md., in the final of the NJCAA Division III Region 20 championship tournament.

BC3 led by as many as nine points before Prince George’s took and maintained the lead with three minutes left before halftime.

“That was a team that we got so close to beating, and we would have won that tournament,” Metzger said.

With its win against BC3, Prince George’s advanced to the Division III Southeast District championship tournament.

“I asked them before this season about their personal goals and their team goals,” said Roth, whose roster includes five freshmen.

“We lost to Prince George’s last year. A lot of them want to beat Prince George’s. Many of them also recognize that we have the potential to go pretty far this year. They want to win the conference. They want to win the region. They want to get to districts. They want to make it to Minnesota (site of the Division III national championship tournament).

“They have their eyes set on accomplishing big things this year, and they realize that is a possibility,” she added.

Roth succeeds Dick Hartung, who stepped down in March after 12 seasons as head coach. Roth was a BC3 assistant coach for two seasons under Hartung and a point guard on teams with Baxter and Craig.

Pry had 20 or more rebounds in 11 games last year and scored 20 or more points in 13.

She led BC3 in scoring 15 times and in rebounding in all 18 games.

Metzger, a Butler graduate and BC3 guard, led the Pioneers with 56 3-pointers and averaged 15.7 points.

“An amazing shooter,” Pry said.

“A great shooter,” Roth added. “You cannot leave her open on the wing. She will just knock them down.”

Guards Emma Monteleone and Zoey Hillwig, and forward Taylor Yost also return. Monteleone had 26 3-pointers and averaged 10.3 points; Hillwig had 19 3-pointers and averaged 6.7 points; and Yost averaged 5.5 rebounds.

Monteleone is a graduate of Butler; Hillwig, of Moniteau; and Yost, of Seneca Valley.

Pry, Metzger and Monteleone were named to the WPCC all-conference team in February and to the NJCAA Division III All-Region 20 team in March.

Pry scored 29 points in the WPCC championship, the most by any BC3 women’s basketball player in a conference championship victory.

BC3’s squad also includes freshmen Brooke Manuel, Karns City, forward; Sara Soltis, Mars, guard; Zoe Morley, Portersville Christian, forward; Megan Pennington, Butler, guard; and Emma Johns, Karns City, guard.

The Pioneers open their 23-game regular season at 1 p.m. Nov. 5 at Penn State DuBois. Their first home game is at 1 p.m. Nov. 19 against Prince George’s in BC3’s Field House.