ATLANTA, Ga. -- Five Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) women's basketball programs earned distinction inside the WBCA Academic Top 25, which ranks college women's basketball teams across the nation that carry the highest combined GPAs inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season. The 2016-17 season is the 22nd in which the WBCA has compiled the honor rolls.
Michigan Tech earned the No. 2 position in NCAA Division II with a 3.736 GPA from head coach Kim Cameron's squad. Grand Valley State boasted a No. 10 rankings following a 3.669 grade-point average eding out Northwood in 11th with a 3.664 mark. Jamie Pewinski's Saginaw Valley program finished the academic year No. 18 with a 3.576 GPA.
GLIAC newcomers Purdue Northwest took home the academic national crown in their final year as an NAIA institution. Head coach Thomas Megyesi lead his Pride to the stellar GPA of 3.746.
"The WBCA family is committed to the student-athlete experience and celebrates these teams that have demonstrated excellence in the classroom," said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. "This year's WBCA Academic Top 25 is a powerful list of teams and their head coaches who have winning cultures that prepare their student-athletes for success in life."
A team's GPA is calculated by dividing the total number of quality points (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0) earned by the total number of academic hours attempted by all team members in the academic terms (semesters or quarters) that the season spans. Weighted grades are converted to a 4.0 scale. The GPAs are rounded to the nearest thousandth of a point. Teams are nominated for the honor by the WBCA-member head coach. A team must have a 3.000 or better GPA to be nominated.
About the Women's Basketball Coaches Association
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women's and girls' basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. Visit www.WBCA.org for more details about the Association.
