March 16, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Just two days after becoming the first Notre Dame women’s basketball player to earn first-team Associated Press All-America honors, Ruth Riley (Macy, Ind.) became the program’s first-ever first-team GTE Academic All-American.

The 6-5 center, who boasts a 3.65 overall grade point average, was the only junior selected to the team. Riley is the fourth Irish women’s basketball player to earn academic all-america honors and the first since 1983. Mary Beth Schueth was the last player to be named an academic all-american when she was selected as a second-team choice in 1983. Shari Matvey was a second-team honoree in 1981, while Maggie Lally was the program’s first and only two-time academic all-american as she garnered honors in both 1981 and 1980.

Joining Riley on this year’s first-team were Kera Alexander (Texas A&M), Lisa Baswell (Jacksonville State), Karalyn Church (Vermont) and Jennifer Crow (Oklahoma State). Baswell also was named the GTE Women’s Basketball Academic All-American of the Year.

Riley, a psychology major, has been named to the Dean’s List all five semsters at Notre Dame. She is a member of the Academic Honors Program which pairs student-athletes who excel in the classsroom with a faculty mentor and has twice been named to the BIG EAST Academic All-Star team.

The 2000 BIG EAST defensive-player-of the-year and a first-team all-BIG EAST honoree in back-to-back seasons, Riley is leading the team in scoring and rebounding for the second straight year averaging 16.2 and 7.3 rebounds.