ATLANTA, Ga. – The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) recently announced its Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for the 2023-24 season and the Gustavus women’s basketball team earned recognition. Making their 19th appearance on the NCAA Division III honor roll, the Gusties were recognized as the team with the 25th-best cumulative grade point average in Division III at a 3.686.

The WBCA Academic Top 25 recognizes NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA and two-year 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 2023-24 season is the 29th in which the WBCA has compiled the honor rolls.

Earlier this summer, the women’s basketball team had eight players named to the MIAC Academic All-Conference team, while Kylie Baranick, Syd Hauger, Rachel Kawiecki, and Emma Kniefel were selected as CSC Academic All-District.

Founded in 1981, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women’s and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. The WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of a diverse community of coaches to the organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport.

The women’s basketball team finished first in the MIAC for the second consecutive season, posting a record of 25-3. The team won its third consecutive MIAC Playoff Championship, advancing to the NCAA tournament for the third year in a row. The Gusties fell to Trine in the first round of the tournament. Syd Hauger was named an All-America Honorable Mention selection, Emma Kniefel was selected as an All-Region honoree, and head coach Laurie Kelly was honored as a finalist for the WBCA’s National Coach of the Year. The Gusties were the first team in MIAC history to receive All-Conference honors for all five of their starters.