For the third time in four seasons, the Northern Colorado women's basketball team has been named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. The 2010-11 teams were announced Monday.
The Bears have a combined grade point average (GPA) of 3.358, which is tied for 22nd among Division I institutions and one of three Big Sky Conference schools to rank among the top 25. The team ranked 10th after the 2007-08 season and 18th a season ago. Though this team fell four spots in the ranking, they increased their overall GPA by 0.007 points this year.
"Success in the classroom is every bit as important to us as success on the court," said Head Coach Jaime White. "Our players work extremely hard in both aspects of being student-athletes and this is a great honor for Northern Colorado."
The WBCA Academic Top 25 annually recognizes NCAA Divisions I, II and III; NAIA; and junior college/community college teams across the nation that carry the highest combined grade point averages (GPAs) inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season. The 2010-11 season is the 14th in which the WBCA has presented the standings.
Of the 11 Northern Colorado players who saw action in at least half the games a season ago, eight were named to the Big Sky Conference All-Academic Team and junior forward Kaisha Brown was a Capital One Academic All-District selection.
On the court, the Bears tied for the Big Sky Conference regular season title and ended with a 17-14 overall record and will return eight letterwinners for the 2011-12 season.
