July 16, 2007

CANYON, Texas - The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its 2006-2007 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and Junior College/Community College on Monday, and the organization placed West Texas A&M 18th on their list with a collective GPA of 3.355.

The women were successful both on and off the court in 2006-2007. In her first year as head coach, Krista Gerlich led the Lady Buffs to a 28-5 record, the LSC South Division title and a perfect 14-0 mark in the league. They also reached the semifinals of the NCAA-II South Central Regional Tournament.

The WBCA awards recognize teams throughout the nation that have the highest grade point averages for the 2006-2007 season based upon nominations submitted by WBCA-member 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.

"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."

Lake Superior State University appears in the WBCA's Academic Top 25 for the second time since 1997. The team sat at 14th for their first appearance and jumped to the number one spot, following head coach Jamie Pewinski's second year as head coach. The squad put up impressive numbers in the classroom and on the court, finishing the season 18-9.

Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) promotes women's basketball by unifying coaches at all levels to develop a reputable identity for the sport and to foster and promote the development of the game in all of its aspects as a sport for women and girls.