BOSTON – The Suffolk women's basketball program ended the 2016-17 season with a 3.519 team grade point average, which ranked 23rd nationally in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 Team Honor Roll, it was announced Wednesday.
Suffolk is the only Great Northeast Athletic Conference team to make the WBCA Academic Top 25.
Head coach Ed Leyden has put an emphasis on academics since arriving on campus as the Rams have had a 3.0 team GPA or better in each of Leyden's 22 seasons on the bench. Last fall, Suffolk posted a 3.44 team GPA and followed that with a 3.49 team GPA in the spring. Sophomore Marissa Gudauskas had a perfect year in the classroom, posting 4.0s in each semester, while junior Alexandra Nagri had a 4.0 in the fall, while also competing for the Suffolk women's soccer team. The accolade marks Suffolk's third with the previous honors coming under Leyden in back-to-back seasons, 2001-02 and 2002-03.
The WBCA Academic Top 25 recognizes NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA and junior/community college women's basketball teams across the nation that carry the highest combined GPAs inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season. The 2016-17 season is the 22nd in which the WBCA has compiled the honor rolls.
Below is the list of the NCAA Division III honorees, for a complete list of all division WBCA Academic Top 25, please click here.
NCAA Division III
Rank |
Institution |
Head Coach |
GPA |
1 |
Emerson College |
Bill Gould |
3.673 |
2 |
Westminster College (Missouri) |
Tracey Braden |
3.669 |
3 |
University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg |
Erin Eaton |
3.647 |
4 |
Greenville College |
Roy Mulholland |
3.641 |
5 |
University of Dubuque |
Mark Noll |
3.634 |
6 |
New York University |
Lauren Hall-Gregory |
3.625 |
7 |
MIT |
Sonia Raman |
3.618 |
8 |
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire |
Tonja Englund |
3.594 |
9 |
Western Connecticut State University |
Kimberley Rybczyk |
3.593 |
10 |
William Smith College |
Lindsay Sharman |
3.576 |
11 |
Vassar College |
Candice Brown |
3.559 |
12 |
Ithaca College |
Dan Raymond |
3.558 |
13 |
Bethel University (Minnesota) |
Jon Herbrechtsmeyer |
3.552 |
14 |
Middlebury College |
KJ Krasco |
3.549 |
15 |
Carthage College |
Tim Bernero |
3.547 |
16 |
Marywood University |
Tara Macciocco |
3.546 |
17 |
Baldwin Wallace University |
Cheri Harrer |
3.544 |
18 |
Washington and Lee |
Christine Clancy |
3.540 |
19 |
Houghton College |
Alicia Mucher |
3.537 |
20 |
Swarthmore College |
Renee DeVarney |
3.532 |
21 |
Elmhurst College |
Tethnie Carrillo |
3.527 |
22 |
University of Minnesota, Morris |
Tim Grove |
3.526 |
23 |
Suffolk University |
Ed Leyden |
3.519 |
24 |
Case Western Reserve University |
Jennifer Reimer |
3.513 |
25 |
Thomas More College |
Jeff Hans |
3.511 |