The Seattle University women's basketball team was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Honor Roll after a successful 2009-10 year in the classroom. Following their first full season at the NCAA Division I level, the Redhawks were named the No. 20 top academic team among all DI institutions with their cumulative grade point average of 3.341.
"Congratulations to these teams who have excelled academically during the 2009-10 school year," WBCA CEO Beth Bass said. "Each of these coaches set an extraordinary example for their peers to follow by holding academics in such high esteem with their student-athletes."
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. Per a motion passed by the WBCA Board of Directors in 2007, teams making the list of Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll must obtain at least a 3.000 overall GPA.
"I am extremely proud of our program for being honored as one of the WBCA's Top 25 DI academic teams," said head coach Joan Bonvicini, who completed her first season at the helm of the program this past year. "Our team competed both on the court and in the classroom to the best of their ability. Our goal is to both a top 25 team on the court and in the classroom, and we are on our way to achieving both."
"I want to additionally acknowledge my staff for all their hard work with their academic teams, and assistant athletic director for academic performance Erin Engelhardt and her team of counselors for assisting our student-athletes whenever they needed it. I also want to thank our Seattle U faculty and staff for truly caring about their students and being there to help them," concluded Bonvicini.
In addition to a successful year in the classroom, the Redhawks posted DI victories over Cal State Northridge, Longwood University, the University of South Dakota and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The Redhawks will kick off the 2010-11 campaign on Friday, Nov. 12 in a 7 p.m. contest versus Cal Poly in the Connolly Center.
The 2009-10 WBCA Academic NCAA Division I Top 25 Team Honor Roll
|
Rank |
School |
2009-10 Head Coach |
Team GPA |
|
1 |
Utah Valley University |
Cathy Nixon |
3.630 |
|
2 |
South Dakota State University |
Aaron Johnston |
3.622 |
|
3 |
Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore County |
Phil Stern |
3.578 |
|
4 |
Indiana State University |
Teri Moren |
3.508 |
|
5 |
Creighton University |
Jim Flanery |
3.506 |
|
6 |
Bowling Green State University |
Curt Miller |
3.500 |
|
7 |
University of Northern Iowa |
Tanya Warren |
3.464 |
|
8 |
DePaul University |
Douglas Bruno |
3.455 |
|
9 |
Lipscomb University |
Frank Bennett |
3.452 |
|
10 |
University of North Dakota |
Gene Roebuck |
3.442 |
|
11 |
University of New Mexico |
Don Flanagan |
3.433 |
|
12 |
North Dakota State University |
Carolyn DeHoff |
3.427 |
|
13 |
Northern Arizona University |
Laurie Kelly |
3.425 |
|
14 |
Bucknell University |
Kathy Fedorjaka |
3.422 |
|
15 |
Monmouth University |
Stephanie Gaitley |
3.412 |
|
16 |
University of South Dakota |
Ryun Williams |
3.368 |
|
17 |
Saint Bonaventure University |
Jim Crowley |
3.354 |
|
18 |
University of Northern Colorado |
Jaime White |
3.351 |
|
19 |
University of Denver |
Erik Johnson |
3.342 |
|
20 |
Seattle University |
Joan Bonvicini |
3.341 |
|
21 |
University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee |
Sandy Botham |
3.340 |
|
22 |
Eastern Washington University |
Wendy Schuller |
3.328 |
|
23 |
University of Hartford |
Jennifer Rizzotti |
3.321 |
|
24 |
Oakland University |
Beckie Francis |
3.318 |
|
25 |
Cornell University |
Dayna Smith |
3.308 |