Women's Basketball Honored on WBCA Academic Honor Roll

For the 12th time in the past 13 seasons, the VC women's basketball team has earned recognition on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for junior and community colleges.

August 3, 2016

For the 12th time in the past 13 seasons, the VC women's basketball team has earned recognition on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for junior and community colleges. 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 2015-16 season is the 21st in which the WBCA as compiled the honor rolls.

In 2015-16, the Pirates earned a No. 14-ranking on the national list for community and junior colleges with an overall team GPA of 3.016. VC was the only community college team from California recognized, and one of three California schools, Vanguard University (NAIA) and UC Santa Cruz (NCAA Div. III) were the other two, to be honored at any level.

The Pirates had 10 of the 16 players on the team post at least a 3.0 GPA for the entire academic year. They were led by five players who reached at least a 3.5 GPA, qualifying them for Academic All-State honors, including Felicia Magana, Carolyn Ruffino, Tatum Maciel, Mary Shirley and Makenna Murray.

In 2014-15 Ventura College was ranked No. 7 with a team-record 3.405 GPA. The Pirates were ranked No. 6 on the national list in 2012-13 and came in at No. 9 in 2011-12. VC was No. 12 nationally in 2010-11 while earning Nos. 7 and 2 in 2009-10 and 2008-09, respectively. VC placed No. 6 in 2007-08 and was also ranked No. 7 in 2006-07, No. 16 in 2005-06, No. 8 in 2004-05, and No. 10 in 2003-04.

GPAs are calculated by dividing the total number of quality points earned by each student-athlete on an institution's roster in the given academic terms by the total number of hours earned by the team. The GPAs are rounded to the nearest thousandth of a point. Per a motion passed by the WBCA Board of Directors in 2007, teams making the list of Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll must obtain at least a 3.000 overall GPA. Only 14 submissions by member coaches qualified for the 2015-16 JC/CC list.

The complete 2015-16 WBCA Academic Top 25 for junior/community colleges is as follows:

Rank	Institution	Head Coach	GPA
1	Northwest College	Janis Beal	3.575
2	Sheridan College	Frank McCarthy	3.567
3	Dawson Community College	Romeo Lagmay, Jr.	3.534
4	Des Moines Area Community College	Steve Krafcisin	3.466
5	Snow College	Mike Russell	3.446
6	Gulf Coast State College	Roonie Scovel	3.250
7	Minnesota West Community & Technical College	Rosalie Hayenga	3.193
8	McHenry County College	Karen Wiley	3.148
9	Frank Phillips College	Eric Rodewald	3.137
10	Johnson County Community College	Ben Conrad	3.117
11	Lincoln College	Carol Wilson	3.089
12	LaGuardia Community College	Anthony Alfaro	3.033
13	Illinois Central College	Karrie Redeker	3.030
14	Ventura College	Ned Mircetic	3.016

Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association promotes women's basketball by unifying coaches at all levels to develop a reputable identity for the sport and to foster and promote the development of the game as a sport for women and girls. For more information on the WBCA, visit wbca.org.