July 21, 2010
Women’s Basketball: Saints earn national academic honor
Lacey, WA – Saint Martin’s women’s basketball team boasts the fourth highest cumulative grade point average among all Division II schools and landed a spot on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) 2010 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll.
As a team the Saints hold a 3.591 GPA, 12th best among any division. Seven student-athletes held grade points over 3.5, five of which were above 3.8.
“We are really proud of the academic success we have had in our basketball program here at SMU,” said head coach Tim Healy. “It is a testament to the types of student-athletes who are attracted to our institution, and the passion with which they approach their on and off court activities and responsibilities!”
Michigan Technological University took the top spot in DII with a team grade point of 3.732 followed by Chardon State University (3.641) and Rockhurst University (3.635). Montana State Billings was the only other Great Northwest Athletic Conference school on the list at 19 with a 3.451 GPA.
The WBCA award, which is given in NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA and Junior College/Community College, honors teams throughout the nation with the highest grade point averages for the entire season based on the nomination submitted by the WBCA-member head coaches.
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.