For the 11th time in the past 12 seasons, the VC women's basketball team has earned recognition on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 presented by AT&T. The honor roll annually recognizes NCAA Division I, II and III; NAIA; and junior/community college women's basketball teams across the nation that carry the highest combined grade point average (GPA) inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters.
In 2014-15, the Pirates earned a No. 7-ranking on the national list for community and junior colleges with a team-record 3.405 overall GPA. VC was the only team from California on the list.
The Pirates had 12 of the 13 players on the team post at least a 3.0 GPA for the year. They were led by six players who reached at least a 3.5 GPA, qualifying them for Academic All-State honors, including Felicia Magana, Madison O'Donnell, Carly Maciel, Christina Gonzalez, Micaela Pericone-Kapp and Carolyn Ruffino.
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 2014-15 JC/CC list.
The complete 2014-15 WBCA Academic Top 25 for junior/community colleges is as follows:
Rank | Institution | Head Coach | Team GPA |
1 | Snow College | Natalie Visger | 3.626 |
2 | Sheridan College | Frank McCarthy | 3.547 |
3 | Wabash Valley College | Zach Loll | 3.478 |
4 | Northwest Mississippi CC | Don Edwards | 3.478 |
5 | Northwest College | Janis Beal | 3.426 |
6 | Lincoln College | Carol Wilson | 3.406 |
7 | Ventura College | Ned Mircetic | 3.405 |
8 | Minnesota West Community and Technical College | Mike Fury | 3.400 |
9 | Ellsworth Community College | Ed Geitz | 3.315 |
10 | Mesa Community College | Kori Stephenson | 3.225 |
11 | Umpqua Community College | David Stricklin | 3.179 |
12 | McHenry County College | Karen Wiley | 3.058 |
13 | Indian River State College | Diana Couch | 3.019 |
14 | Frank Phillips College | Eric Rodewald | 3.005 |
About the WBCA
Founded in 1981, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) 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 in all of its aspects as a sport for women and girls. For more information about the WBCA, please visit wbca.org.