Shorter Lady Hawks Basketball Enter NAIA Top 25 Poll

Fueled by the 70-63 win over conference foe and nationally-ranked Lee University, Shorter College broke into the NAIA Women's Basketball Top 25 Coaches' Poll at No. 24, the NAIA announced Monday.

This is the fifth regular-season edition of the Coaches' Poll, and the first time Shorter has been ranked after receiving votes in last week's poll.

Shorter (12-5, 7-1) beat the nationally-ranked then-#5 Lee University Lady Flames on the road, 70-63, to gain sole possession of first place in the tough Southern States Athletic Conference.

Nicole Frechette had 18 points (and a team-leading 10 rebounds) in the win was awarded SSAC Women's Basketball Player of the Week earlier in the day.

The road game was the fourth straight for the Lady Hawks as they head into their game next Thursday at cross-town rival Berry College. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. at Berry's Cage Center.

From the NAIA:

For the second straight week Union (Tenn.) received all first place votes to stay No. 1 the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll. The Lady Bulldogs earned 312 total points and were a unanimous pick for the fourth time this season.

The next three spots also remained the same for second consecutive week. No. 2 Vanguard (Calif.) held its spot with 300 points while Oklahoma City remained at No. 3 with 294 points and Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) stayed at No. 4 with 283 points.

No. 6 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) remained in its spot with 256 points. Saint Xavier (Ill.) moved up two spots from last week to No. 7 with 250 points and Oklahoma Baptist jumped to No. 9 from No. 13 with 235 points. Columbia (Mo.) rounded out the top-10 after moving up a spot with 220 points.

No. 24 Shorter (Ga.) and No. 25 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) both made their debut in the top-25 this week.

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Emory Women's Basketball Squad Earns Spot on WBCA Academic Top 25 Honor Roll

The 2007-08 Emory University women’s basketball program was recognized for its collective performance in the classroom, earning a spot on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll for Division III. The awards recognize teams throughout the nation in NCAA Division I, Division II, Division III as well as NAIA and junior colleges that have compiled the highest grade-point averages for the past academic year based upon nominations submitted by WBCA-member coaches.

The Eagles of Head Coach Christy Thomaskutty held down the No. 4 position on the Top 25 list, fashioning a GPA of 3.50 for the ’07-08 school year. The Emory squad had a strong showing during the recently completed spring semester, posting a 3.53 effort on the academic front. The Eagles were the lone representative from the University Athletic Association (UAA) to make the Top 25. Concordia University (WI) claimed the No. 1 ranking among Division III programs with a 3.637 GPA and was followed by Messiah College (3.627).

“Emory is a prestigious institution that challenges its students to be the best that they can be,” Thomaskutty said. “The team doing as well as it did is a testament to the drive and commitment that the players have for all aspects of their lives.”

South Dakota State University and the University of South Dakota were the No. 1 finishers in NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II, respectively. The GPAs were 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.