University of Vermont Athletics

Lynda Ballard 1983 - Basketball, Softball

A terrific softball player and the first 1,000 point scorer in UVM women's basketball history, Lynda Ballard helped set the stage for the success the team has enjoyed in the late 1980's and in the 1990's. Inducted into the UVM Hall of Fame in 1996, she was a four-year letter-winner in basketball, scoring 1,002 points in her career, which spanned from 1979-1983. She averaged 12.1 points a game for her career, and was the team's leading scorer in 1980-81 (16.1 ppg) and 1982-83 (12.4).

Lynda averaged 11.0 points a game as a junior, and 7.0 ppg as a freshman. As a sophomore, she led the team in assists. Ballard still holds the school record for field goals attempted in a game - 31 - which she accomplished on Dec. 11, 1982 in a game with St. Lawrence. Ballard, when inducted in the UVM Hall of Fame in 1996, also ranked seventh in career field goals (435) and her 143 field goals in 1980-81 are 15th best all-time. She is in the top 20 all-time in career free throws (103) and career free-throw percentage (.589).

A passer as well as a scorer, Lynda is ninth all-time in career assists with 204 in 83 games (2.5 a game). She is also seventh all-time in career steals with 159, and her 56 steals in 1981-82 are 13th best all-time. In a game against St. Michael's on Feb. 27, 1982, she led the Catamounts to a 93-69 victory with a 26-point effort.

Always up for the big games, she scored 25 points in a 62-57 win over Ithaca in the Cornell Invitational Tournament in 1981, and dropped in 24 in an 81-78 victory over New Haven in the Bentley Tournament that same year.

In softball, Ballard was equally successful. She lettered three times, she led the team in batting in 1981 with a .426 average, was selected to the All-New England Division II first team that same year. A tremendous athlete, Ballard could hit - she smacked a two-run homer to lift the Cats to a 3-2 win over Keene in 1982, and had five hits in a doubleheader against UMass in 1981 - and she could pitch. She teamed with Deb Bothfeld to pitch a five-hit shut out in 1982, among her other accomplishments.

Jean Condon, Ballard's coach in basketball, remembers Ballard well. "L. B., as she was known to us, was a local player who excelled in times of limited opportunities for goals," Condon said. But she made the most of every chance to grow and learn in athletics."