USF Women's Basketball Recognized by the WBCA for Academic Excellence
July 17, 2007
USF women's basketball's pursuit of excellence in the classroom paid off as the team earned the No. 16 slot among the top Division I programs for academic success as released by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The Dons, under first year head coach Tanya Haave, turned in a sparkling team GPA of 3.382 in 2006-07.
Three USF student-athletes earned West Coast Conference All-Academic Team selection in 2006-07, matching a program standard. Junior guard Dominique Carter earned her second straight WCC Academic Team selection last season, while junior center Lisa Olden and sophomore guard Shay Rollins made their inaugural appearances on the list.
It is the second time in three seasons USF women's basketball finished in the top-25 nationally among team GPA leaders. The Dons ranked No. 18 during the 2004-05 campaign under USF Legend of the Hilltop Mary Hile-Nepfel. San Francisco is the only team in the WCC tabbed in the top-25 this season.
Four of the five top ranking institutions have appeared on the WBCA Academic Top 25 Honor Roll as least once since the award first started following the 1997-1998 season. South Dakota State University holds the number one spot for the second year in a row. Dana College also continued their reign at the top spot for the second consecutive year. Iowa Lakes Community College settled for nothing less than the best, as they finished at the top in their first appearance in the WBCA's Academic Top 25. Also finishing at the top spot for the first time are Lake Superior State University and Hardin-Simmons University. These "class-act" teams combine for an average 3.630 GPA for the 2006-2007 season, up from last year's 3.602.
GPAs are calculated by dividing the total number of quality points earned by each student-athlete on an institution's roster in the given academic terms by the total number of hours earned by the team. The GPAs are rounded to the nearest thousandth of a point.
The WBCA Academic Top 25* Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I is as follows:
School 2006-07 Head Coach Team GPA 1 South Dakota State University Aaron Johnston 3.693 2 University Of Northern Iowa Tanya Warren 3.624 3 Saint Bonaventure University Jim Crowley 3.594 4 Montana State University-Bozeman Tricia Binford 3.557 5 Brown University Jean Marie Burr 3.517 6 Oakland University Beckie Francis 3.515 7 Liberty University Carey Green 3.508 8 Eastern Washington University Wendy Schuller 3.471 9 Niagara University William Agronin 3.457 10 Eastern Illinois University Brady Sallee 3.442 11 Villanova University Harry Perretta 3.432 12 Valparaiso University Keith Freeman 3.419 13 Indiana State University Jim Wiedie 3.398 14 Marist College Brian Giorgis 3.389 15 Western Carolina University Kellie Harper 3.387 16 University Of San Francisco Tanya Haave 3.382 17 Saint Louis University Shimmy Gray-Miller 3.336 18 University Of Wisconsin, Green Bay Matthew Bollant 3.334 19 Southern Illinois Univ. at Carbondale Dana Eikenberg 3.318 20 University Of Evansville Tricia Cullop 3.313 21 Cleveland State University Kate Peterson 3.310 22 Northern Arizona University Laurie Kelly 3.307 23 Bowling Green State University Curt Miller 3.300 24 Utah Valley State College Cathy Nixon 3.298 25 DePaul University Douglas Bruno 3.294