Northwestern's Veronica Burton named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year for third time

The women's basketball star was also named to the All-Big Ten first team by both coaches and media.

Northwestern women's basketball guard Veronica Burton earned her third-straight Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award and was named to the All-Big Ten first team by both coaches and media, the conference announced Tuesday. 

Burton is the second Big Ten player to win three Defensive Player of the Year awards. The only other was Penn State's Tanisha Wright, who now coaches the Atlanta Dream, during her 2003-05 campaign. Burton is the sixth Wildcat to be named to the All-Big Ten first team multiple times. Others who achieved the great feat include former Wildcats Anucha Browne, Michele Savage, Amy Jaeschke, Nia Coffey and Lindsey Pulliam. 

The Newton, Massachusetts native finished her senior year regular-season campaign averaging 4.11 steals per game, the most in the NCAA for the second-straight year. Burton also posted an impressive 6.5 assists per game, good for sixth in the country. Her 2.97 assist-turnover ratio ranks fifth nationally. She is the only player to rank in the nation's top 10 in all three categories. Offensively, Burton averaged a team-high 17.5 points per game.

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