WestConn Women’s Basketball Team ranked No. 9 nationally in Academic Honor Roll

WestConn Women’s Basketball wins in the classroom

The Western Connecticut State University Women’s Basketball Team placed in the national Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for the first time, with a ninth-place ranking.

WestConn’s team, with a cumulative GPA of 3.953, shared the Top 10 with the likes of Emerson College, New York University and MIT, and finished ahead of William Smith, Vassar and Ithaca colleges. The honor roll is compiled each year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

“I am so incredibly proud of our young ladies,” said Coach Kimberley Rybczyk, a former WestConn player who has coached the team for 15 seasons. “They work so hard year-in and year-out and to be recognized by the WBCA for their effort is tremendous. They exemplify what it means to be a student-athlete at WestConn.”

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.

WCSU Athletic Director Lori Mazza also expressed pride in the recognition.

"This honor demonstrates a program philosophy aimed at excellence in the classroom, as well as in competition,” Mazza said. “When I look around at our student athletes, they all understand the Division III philosophy of a student athlete, but this women's basketball team embraced it. Individually and collectively, the athletes and their coaches represent WestConn very well.”

Rybczyk previously coached at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and at Southwestern University in Texas, where both teams under her tutelage earned the Top 25 honor.

For more information, call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.

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Submitted by Southbury, CT

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