Terriers 3.625 Ties for Second Among 345 Programs

The St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers are tied with DePaul University for the second-highest team Division I GPA in the WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for the 2012-13 season, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced today. The Terriers are the only New York Metropolitan area squad to earn the honor.

The WBCA Academic Top 25 annually recognizes women's basketball teams across the nation in NCAA Divisions I, II and III, the NAIA, and junior/community colleges that carry the highest combined grade point averages (GPAs) inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season. The 2012-13 season is the 18th in which the WBCA has produced the honor rolls.

"We are very happy that our ladies received this recognition," said Terriers' head coach John Thurston. "To be tied for second among 345 schools is quite an achievement, considering those who are behind us in the Top 25 such as Harvard, Yale, Brown and Cornell. This was a total team effort. We naturally had some exceptional individual efforts with eight student athletes receiving 3.8 or above GPA's in the spring semester alone led by Katie Fox's overall 4.0 mark. However, it was the year to year improvement of some of the others that made the jump from last year's 10th place finish possible. This honor, along with being the top academic team in Northeast Conference Women's Basketball and winning the Sportsmanship Award, has made it a very special year for our women. Our coaching staff could not be any prouder of them."

Complete 2013 WBCA Academic Top 25 for NCAA Division I:
Rank - Institution - 2012-13 Head Coach Team -GPA

1 Utah Valley University Cathy Nixon 3.639
T2 DePaul University** Douglas Bruno 3.625
T2 St. Francis College (N.Y.) John Thurston 3.625
4 Florida Gulf Coast University Karl Smesko 3.621
T5 Southeast Missouri State University Ty Margenthaler 3.546
T5 University of North Dakota Travis Brewster 3.546
7 University of Northern Iowa Tanya Warren 3.541
8 University of Denver Kerry Cremeans 3.519
9 Brown University Jean Marie Burr 3.518
10 North Dakota State University Carolyn DeHoff 3.512
11 Oakland University Beckie Francis* 3.503
12 Lehigh University Susan Troyan 3.498
13 South Dakota State University** Aaron Johnston 3.492
T14 Eastern Washington University Wendy Schuller 3.491
T14 Western Carolina University Karen Middleton 3.491
16 Cornell University Dayna Smith 3.453
17 Youngstown State University Bob Boldon* 3.438
18 Austin Peay State University Carrie Daniels 3.437
19 University of Evansville Oties Epps 3.411
20 Alcorn State University Tonya Edwards 3.404
21 Harvard University Kathy Delaney-Smith 3.399
22 Yale University Chris Gobrecht 3.385
23 University of New Mexico Yvonne Sanchez 3.372
24 University of South Dakota Amy Williams 3.368
25 University of Northern Colorado Jamie White 3.365

(**-NCAA tournament; *-left after season)

St. Francis College, founded in 1859 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, is located in Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. Since its founding, the College has pursued its Franciscan mission to provide an affordable, high-quality education to students from New York City’s five boroughs and beyond.

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St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights, NY 11201
www.sfc.edu