July 16, 2007

www.siusalukis.com

ATLANTA, Ga. - The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its 2006-2007 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I. The awards recognize teams throughout the nation that have the highest grade point averages (GPA) for the 2006-2007 season based upon nominations submitted by WBCA-member coaches.

The Southern Illinois women's basketball team made the list for the second time in three years, carrying a 3.318 GPA to rank 19th.

The defending regular season Missouri Valley Conference Champion Salukis, ranked 22nd in 2004-05, were one of four Valley teams to break into the top 25, led by UNI who ranked second.

"It always brings the WBCA esteemed pleasure to recognize such prominent women's basketball programs that have committed themselves on the hardwood and in the classroom," said WBCA CEO Beth Bass. "Each of these teams lead by example and have set a benchmark of success academically among their peers and in the sport."

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)