Monday, August 15, 2005

Nashville, Tenn. – The Belmont women’s basketball team has been recognized for having one of the highest grade point averages (GPA) among NCAA Division I teams by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). The Bruins concluded the 2004-05 season with a 3.392 team GPA, good for ninth-best in the nation on the WBCA 2005 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. Belmont is the only Atlantic Sun Conference representative, the only private college or university and the only university from the Southeastern part of the United States on the list.

The Bruins have been a staple of the top-15 of the WBCA Top 25 Team Honor Roll since the end of the 2000-01 season, narrowly missing breaking into the top 10 by two-hundredths of a point. Belmont has been ranked as high as fifth, receiving that honor at the end of its 2002-03 campaign.

The women’s basketball team was also recognized by the conference for its academic achievements with eight of its players earning All-Academic Honors last season en route to helping Belmont earn the Atlantic Sun’s All-Academic Trophy for the fourth-consecutive year.

Not only has BU continued to strive to be the best in the classroom, the Bruins had a stellar season on the hardwood as well, finishing the 2004-05 campaign with a 17-11 record overall and a 12-9 A-Sun mark. The team made its second trip to the Atlantic Sun Tournament in as many years in 2005.

The GPAs used to select members of the Honor Roll 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.

The WBCA recognizes the top 25 teams from NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and the Junior College/Community College ranks. The awards recognize teams throughout the nation that have the highest GPA for the previous season based on nominations from WBCA-member coaches.

Founded in 1981, the 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 as an amateur sport for women and girls. For additional information about the WBCA, please visit http://www.WBCA.org.

Belmont opens the 2005-06 season on November 10th when it hosts Kentucky Wesleyan in an exhibition game at the Curb Event Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.