Photo Credit: Michigan Tech

ATLANTA - For the third straight year, the Michigan Tech women’s basketball team boasts one of the nation’s top four team grade point averages. The Huskies ranked fourth in the country with a 3.635 GPA according to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) 2008-09 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll. Tech was second nationally a year ago and fourth in 2006-07.

St. Thomas Aquinas College ranked first at 3.694—less than six-hundredths of a point ahead of Michigan Tech.

“I’m once again very proud to be associated with this team,” said head coach John Barnes, who wrapped up is sixth year at Tech in 2008-09. “Their work ethic has been tremendous, and it shows in their accomplishments both on the court and in the classroom.”

Michigan Tech advanced to the 2009 NCAA Division II Elite Eight last March after winning a second straight Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship. The Huskies wrapped up the year with a 27-7 record.

Grade point averages 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.

Tech is one of four GLIAC schools (Ashland, Findlay and Northwood are the others) on the Academic Top 25 Honor Roll. The only other NCAA Elite Eight team is West Texas A&M.

The full WBCA Division II Academic Top 25 Honor Roll is below.

1 St. Thomas Aquinas College 3.694
2 Saint Martin's University 3.668
3 Ashland University 3.647
4 Michigan Technological University 3.635
5 Abilene Christian University 3.580
6 Seton Hill University 3.567
7 West Liberty State College 3.559
8 Rockhurst University 3.545
t9 Winona State University 3.520
t9 University of Nebraska-Kearney 3.520
11 College of Saint Rose 3.499
12 Gannon University 3.497
13 University of Findlay 3.495
14 Wayne State College 3.473
15 Montana State University-Billings 3.472
16 Northwood University 3.471
17 Truman State University 3.461
18 Southwest Minnesota State University 3.460
19 University of Minnesota-Duluth 3.447
20 Regis University 3.412
21 Adelphi University 3.403
22 Colorado Christian University 3.394
23 Fort Lewis College 3.380
24 West Texas A&M University 3.371
25 Mars Hill College 3.366