FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WINTHROP, Mass. – The 2018-19 Google Cloud Academic All-District® Men's and Women's Basketball Teams, as selected by CoSIDA, were announced on Thursday, as three Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) student-athletes were honored in Emmanuel College junior Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda and Saint Joseph's College of Maine seniors Darian Berry and Kelsi McNamara.
The program recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. The Google Cloud Academic All-America® program separately recognizes basketball honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. As First-team Academic All-District® honorees, the GNAC trio will advance to the Google Cloud Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second- and third team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in mid-March.
Ramirez-Tejeda owns a 3.81 GPA as a Criminal Justice major at Emmanuel, and on the court this season, the South Boston, Mass. native is averaging a double-double of 20.9 points and 11.1 rebounds for the Saints. She was also named the USBWA Division III National Player of the Week back in November.
McNamara, who was the 2017 GNAC Player of the Year and is a three-time GNAC Tournament MVP, has a 3.55 GPA at SJC as an Elementary Education major. The West Newbury, Mass. native is averaging career-bests in points (21.1), rebounds (3.6), assists (7.0), field-goal percentage (.448) and free-throw percentage (.886) for the No. 8/11 Monks. She also eclipsed the 2,000-career point mark on Thursday in SJC's GNAC semifinal victory over Suffolk University.
The two honorees will square off head-to-head on Saturday at 1:00 PM in the GNAC Women's Basketball Championship contest, with a trip to the NCAA Division III Tournament on the line.
As for Berry, the senior has an impressive 3.86 GPA as a Finance/Accounting major up in Standish. Hailing from Rochester, N.H., Berry averaged 20.0 points and 5.0 rebounds his senior year, helping the Monks to the No. 6 seed in the GNAC Tournament as well as an upset quarterfinal road victory over Johnson & Wales University this past Tuesday. He also surpassed the 1,000-point theshold for his career earlier this season.
The Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) is an NCAA Division III association made up of 13 member institutions and over 3,000 student-athletes across the New England region. Founded in 1995, the GNAC annually sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunity and community involvement in an effort to enhance the student-athlete experience.
– #TheGNAC –