Thursday, August 04, 2011

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA announced Lipscomb's Jenna Bartsokas received the Atlantic Sun Conference's nomination for the 2011 Woman of the Year Award. More than 140 NCAA female student-athletes representing multiple sports across Divisions I, II and III have been selected as 2011 Woman of the Year nominees by their athletic conferences and by independent institutions.

A senior guard and four-year starter for the Lady Bisons basketball team, Bartsokas finishes her Lipscomb career as the second leading scorer in the D-I Era with 1,411 points by averaging 11.9 points per game. She also stands second in career assists (295) and eight in rebounds (342). Her senior season, Bartsokas averaged 14.9 PPG – fifth in the A-Sun – en route to earning Second Team All-Conference honors.

Bartsokas, an Exercise Science major, kept a 3.95 overall GPA during her four years at Lipscomb and recorded a perfect 4.0 GPA in six semesters. A member of the Alpha Chi Honor Society, she has been accepted in the Doctoral Program for Physical Therapy at Walsh University. Along with earning four A-Sun All-Academic honors throughout her career, Bartsokas was named an Academic All-American Third Team honoree in 2011 and is a two-time Academic All-District member. In May, Bartsokas received a $7,500 Postgraduate Scholarship from the NCAA, while she also earned the A-Sun's Student-Athlete of the Year honor and the A-Sun Post-Graduate Scholarship in June.

The Woman of the Year Award, now in its 21st year, honors female student-athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in academic achievement, athletic excellence, community service and leadership. 2010 Woman of the Year Justine Schluntz was an NCAA swimming champion and 2010 Rhodes Scholar from the University of Arizona.

With the 142 conference nominees selected, a committee composed of representatives from NCAA member schools and athletic conferences will select 10 nominees from each of the three divisions to compose the Top 30 nominees, who will be announced in late August. The selection committee will then narrow the Top 30 to three finalists from each division to form the Top Nine, which will be announced in early September. From the Top Nine finalists, the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will select the national winner. The 2011 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced during the Woman of the Year dinner in Indianapolis on Sunday, October 16.

Follow the Atlantic Sun on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.