Christina Buttenham's Iowa playing career comes to an end with medical noncounter waiver

Matthew Bain
Hawk Central

IOWA CITY, Ia. — Christina Buttenham's time as a Hawkeye isn't over. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for her time as a Hawkeye basketball player.

Iowa's Christina Buttenham drives past Iowa State's Seanna Johnson during their game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016.

The Big Ten Conference granted Buttenham a medical noncounter waiver for the 2017-18 season, Iowa announced Thursday. Translation: The rising senior will still receive athletic financial aid while she finishes her degree, but her basketball career is over. She will remain a part of Iowa's team from the sidelines.

Buttenham suffered a concussion during practice in early February and played just 23 minutes in Iowa's final 11 games.

"Injuries are an uncontrollable and unfortunate part of the game of basketball, but with the national discussions and information that we now have about concussions, we feel that Christina’s long-term well-being is more important than a few more months on the basketball court," Iowa's Lisa Bluder said in a news release. "We are glad that Christina will remain a part of our program from the sidelines as she completes her degree."

Buttenham played in 26 games and started four last year, averaging 3.3 points and 2.6 rebounds in 13.7 minutes per contest.

Her financial aid won't count against the team's annual athletic scholarship allotment. So that means Iowa, once again, has three open scholarships for 2017-18. That number was two for about a month; Iowa signed Spanish post Paula Valiño Ramos in late June.

Matthew Bain covers preps, recruiting and the Hawkeyes for the Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Des Moines Register and HawkCentral. Contact him at mbain@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @MatthewBain_.