For the second time in the last three years, the University of Evansville women’s basketball team has been honored for its work in the classroom by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), as head coach Misty Murphy’s Purple Aces ranked 19th in the WBCA’s 2009 Academic Top 25 Honor Roll released today.  The Purple Aces compiled a team grade point average of 3.336 during the course of the 2008-09 academic school year to rank among the nation’s elite.

“This is a tremendous honor to be ranked in the WBCA’s Academic Honor Roll,” said Murphy.  “It is a real credit to the hard work which our players put forth this year, not only on the court, but also in the classroom to succeed, and that is what University of Evansville women’s basketball is all about.”

It marks the second time in the last three years in which the Purple Aces have ranked among the nation’s Top 25 academically, as UE also ranked 20th in the WBCA’s Academic Top 25 in 2007.  Evansville ranked as one of ten private institutions to earn WBCA Academic Top 25 honors at the Division I level in 2009, while also being just one of eight teams to earn WBCA Academic Top 25 honors and also participate in the 2009 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, joining the likes of DePaul, Villanova, Kansas State, Wisconsin-Green Bay, South Dakota State, Western Carolina and Lehigh.

The WBCA’s Academic Top 25 honor roll recognizes teams throughout the nation that have the highest grade point average for the 2008-09 season based upon nominations submitted by WBCA-member coaches.  GPAs are calculated by dividing the total number of quality points earned by each student-athlete on an institution’s roster in a given academic term by the total number of hours earned by the team.

Below is a listing of the 2009 WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for Division I:

1.  Indiana State University, 3.645 GPA
2.  University of North Dakota, 3.580
3.  South Dakota State University, 3.571
4.  Montana State University-Bozeman, 3.501
5.  Bowling Green State University, 3.470
6.  University of Northern Iowa, 3.437
7.  Manhattan College, 3.432
8.  Western Carolina University, 3.428
9.  Eastern Washington University, 3.422
10.  University of New Mexico, 3.414
11.  DePaul University, 3.402
12.  Utah Valley University, 3.390
13.  Kansas State University, 3.374
14.  Wichita State University, 3.361
15.  Lehigh University, 3.356
t16.  Saint Bonaventure University, 3.353
t16.  Cornell University, 3.353
18.  Villanova University, 3.346
19.  UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE, 3.336
20.  Oakland University, 3.323
t21.  Charleston Southern University, 3.320
t21.  Columbia University, 3.320
23.  University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, 3.317
24.  University of South Dakota, 3.311
25.  University of Hartford, 3.308