Aug. 27, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s basketball team was one of a select group of squads named to the 2003-04 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll, it was announced Friday. The Irish, who are making their first-ever appearance on the WBCA list, ranked 22nd in the nation with a 3.277 cumulative team grade-point average during the 2003-04 academic year. Notre Dame is the only school from the ’04 NCAA Sweet Sixteen that also appears on the new WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. “We are extremely proud of our players for the hard work and dedication they have shown, not only on the court but in the classroom,” Irish head coach Muffet McGraw said. “This award proves that you don’t have to sacrifice academics to be successful in athletics. It’s yet another example of the tremendous balance between the classroom and the basketball court that makes Notre Dame such a unique and special place.” The Irish have been especially strong in the classroom during the past four years, recording combined team GPAs of 3.1 or better in seven of the past eight semesters. Notre Dame also registered the highest GPA in the program’s 28-year history during the spring 2004 semester, charting a 3.343 combined GPA for the 12-player squad. In addition, nine players from that team were named to the 2003-04 BIG EAST Conference Academic All-Star Team, including current players Jacqueline Batteast, Teresa Borton, Megan Duffy, Katy Flecky and Susie Powers. The WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll recognizes the nation’s highest team GPAs for 2003-04, based upon nominations submitted by WBCA-member head coaches. Team GPAs are calculated by dividing the total number of quality points earned by each student-athlete on an institution’s squad list 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. Eastern Washington University claimed the top spot on this year’s NCAA Division I honor roll, posting a 3.626 team GPA.
— ND —