FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WINTHROP, Mass. – Four Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) student-athletes have been selected as 2017-18 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District® Women's Basketball Team honorees, the organization announced on Thursday afternoon, as Emmanuel College sophomore Yuleska Ramirez-Tejeda, Johnson & Wales University (RI) senior Raquel Pederzani, Mount Ida College senior Breanna Muir and Saint Joseph's College of Maine junior Kelsi McNamara have been recognized as Academic All-District performers.
The Academic All-District program recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the court and in the classroom. First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team ballot, with first-, second- and third-team Academic All-America honorees to be announced in March.
Three of the four GNAC honorees have maintained GPAs of 3.95 or above.
Ramirez-Tejeda, who has exploded onto the scene on the floor this season in the GNAC, has a perfect 4.00 GPA as a Criminal Justice major. In just 25.5 minutes per game, she has averaged 15.2 points, 9.7 rebounds and shot 52.7% from the field for the season. She hails from South Boston, Mass.
Pederzani, a four-year contirbutor for the Wildcats, averaged 17.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.2 assists this season before their GNAC Tournament Quarterfinal setback on Tuesday evening. Also a Criminal Justice major, the Coventry, R.I. native has a 3.95 GPA at JWU.
A native of Wareham, Mass., Muir has achieved a 3.99 GPA as a Mount Ida Sport Management major, as she has earned just one grade below A+ during her matriculation at the school. On the hardcourt, the Mustangs' co-captain set the school career assists mark (228) earlier this season and ranked second on the team overall in scoring at 10.4 points per game. Additionally, she recorded a team-best 3.5 assists per contest and connected for 37 three-pointers in leading head coach Katie Greene's squad to the second highest single-season win total (13) in school history and the program's first GNAC Tournament berth in six years this winter.
Rounding out the conference's four selections is McNamara, the reigning GNAC Women's Basketball Player of the Year and two-time NCAA Tournament participant. The junior floor general helped lead the Monks to a perfect 16-0 record in league play, as they are once again the No. 1 seed in the GNAC Tournament, seeking their third straight conference crown. Along the way, she has averaged 18.0 points, and a league-leading 5.7 assists per game entering Thursday night's GNAC Semifinal matchup with Albertus Magnus College. The West Newbury, Mass. native owns a 3.42 GPA as an Elementary Education major.
The Academic All-District® teams include the student-athletes listed on the following pages and are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. The CoSIDA Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and College Division. The College Division includes all NAIA, Canadian, two-year schools, and other affiliations. The Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2017-18 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams. For more information about the Academic All-District® and Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit the Academic AllAmerica® home page on CoSIDA.com.
Information Provided by Mount Ida Athletics Communications.
Founded in 1995, 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. Each year, the GNAC sponsors and administers 20 championships, while balancing academic integrity, athletic opportunities and community involvement.
– #TheGNAC –