Houghton Honored on WBCA Top 25 Honor Roll
The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) released its Academic Top 25 Honor Roll and Houghton College is ranked 22nd on the list for NCAA Division III. Houghton's cumulative grade-point average for the 2017-18 academic school year was 3.577, marking the third straight year the Highlanders have been on the Top 25.
The Empire 8 has been well represented in the Top 25 over the past few years including Houghton College earning the highest ranking amongst an E8 team honored with a fourth place rank in 2015-16. Ithaca College was sixth in 2011-12 and 2012-13. The Bombers were also tenth in 2013-14 and were joined by Elmira (6th) and Utica (24th). In 2014-15 Ithaca was 12th and Utica ranked 19th, while last year the Bombers ranked 12th and the Highlanders were 19th.
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 2017-18 season is the 23rd in which the WBCA as compiled the honor rolls.
“The WBCA is pleased to recognize those women’s basketball programs that have committed themselves to excellence on the court and in the classroom,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew. “The 119 teams we honor this year strive to achieve all-around success and we commend their efforts. Congratulations!”
A team’s GPA is calculated by dividing the total number of quality points (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0) earned by the total number of academic hours attempted by all team members in the academic terms (semesters or quarters) that the season spans. Weighted grades are converted to a 4.0 scale. The GPAs are rounded to the nearest thousandth of a point. Teams are nominated for the honor by the WBCA member head coach. A team must have a 3.000 or better GPA to be nominated.