College Sports Information Directors of America

2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-America Men's/Women's Basketball Teams release dates:

College Division Teams: PDF | doc
NCAA Division III Teams: PDF | doc
NCAA Division II Teams: Wed., Mar. 1
NCAA Division I Teams: Thurs., Mar. 2

Academic All-America Program Index Page

DeShawn Lowman of Neumann and Lisa Murphy of Carnegie Mellon Highlight CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division III Basketball Teams

AUSTIN, Texas – A pair of repeat selections headline the 2016-17 CoSIDA Academic All-America® Division III Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams in selections announced Tuesday by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
 
DeShawn Lowman, a graduate student at Neumann, and Lisa Murphy from Carnegie Mellon highlight the two teams as the Academic All-America® of the Year for men and women, respectively.
 
Lowman and Murphy are two of seven repeat honorees to the 2016-17 team as each was a first team Academic All-America® selection in 2015-16.
 
Holly Denfeld, from Milwaukee School of Engineering, is a three-time Academic All-America® selection, earning first team honors in 2015-16 and second team in 2014-15. Denfeld, a native of Edgar, Wisconsin, maintains a 3.99 G.P.A. with a double major in architectural engineering and construction management. Murphy’s teammate, Jackie Hudepohl, and Roanoke’s Cary Beahm join Murphy on the first team after earning second and third team honors last season, respectively.
 
The final women’s repeat selection, Averett’s Samm Chandler, is a second team Academic All-America® pick this year after earning third team accolades last year.
 
A third student-athlete from Carnegie Mellon, Jack Serbin, is a three-time Academic All-America® honoree thanks to his first team spot on the men’s first team this winter. A 3.77 student as a business administration major, the New Albany, Ohio native was a second team pick in 2015-16 and a third teamer in 2014-15.
 
The CoSIDA Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division III national governance structure, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2016-17 Division III Academic All-America® teams program.
 
Lowman, a perfect 4.0 student as an undergrad as a criminal justice major who is now pursuing a master’s degree in education, led Neumann to a CSAC regular season and tournament titles as well as a No. 15 national ranking after averaging 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. A two-time CSAC Player of the Week honoree, the Wilmington, Delaware native has earned first team All-CSAC honors the past three seasons and was the 2014 CSAC Rookie of the Year.
 
Murphy, a McLean, Virginia native and a 3.84 student as a psychology major, is in the midst of finishing off an outstanding career for the Tartans. She currently averages a league-leading 24.6 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. Murphy is shooting 79.9 percent from the field and currently leads the nation. She became just the 18^th woman in NCAA Division III history to record 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, reaching both milestones in a UAA-record 44-point performance versus Emory on Jan. 22.
 
Murphy is a two-time UAA Player of the Year, and earned first team All-America honors from both the WBCA and D3hoops.com in 2016.
 
Hudepohl, who boasts a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. as a mathematics major, is averaging 14.8 points per game this season for Carnegie Mellon and was a second team All-UAA selection. Hudepohl was a first team all-league honoree in 2016. She calls Saratoga, California home.
 
Serbin leads the UAA in rebounding, at 12 per game, and is in second in scoring at 17.7 points per game. He is a three-time All-UAA honoree and was the 2014 UAA Rookie of the Year.
 
Beahm has earned All-ODAC honors in each of the last two seasons and was named as the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s basketball this season. She is from Dendron, Virginia and sports a 3.97 G.P.A. as a criminal justice/sociology double major.
 
Chandler now has the opportunity to earn three straight Academic All-America® honors with her second team selection this season. A two-time first team All-USA South honoree, Chandler has a 3.96 G.P.A. as a biomedical science/sports medicine double major and is a Burnsville, North Carolina native.
 
Harrison Blackledge (Hope), Daniel Rutecki (King’s (Pa.)) and Rockford’s Zach Wallace join Lowman and Serbin on the men’s first team.
 
Blackledge hails from Canton, Ohio and capped his career at Hope by being named first team All-MIAA and as the MIAA MVP. A 3.91 student as a communication/management major, Blackledge averaged 20.3 points per game for the MIAA finalists this season.
 
Rutecki, from Springfield, Pennsylvania, was named to the MAC Freedom Conference second team for the third straight year in 2016-17 after leading King’s (Pa.) in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals. He graduates as the No. 10 leading scorer in program history with 1361 points and has a 3.92 G.P.A. as a finance/accounting double major.
 
Wallace, from Rockford, Illinois and a 3.63 student in political science, was named as the NACC Defensive Player of the Year after leading the league with 2.8 blocks per game and 11.5 rebounds per game. He was also a first team All-NACC selection.
 
The 15-player men’s Academic All-America® men’s team has a 3.80 average G.P.A. with the five first teamers checking in at 3.85. Lowman, Nebraska Wesleyan’s Cooper Cook and David Stokman from Saint John’s (Minnesota) all have perfect 4.0 G.P.A.’s. Cook is a second team honoree and Stokman a third team pick.
 
Elmhurst’s Mikaela Eppard complete the women’s first team along with Murphy, Denfeld, Hudepohl and Beahm.
 
Denfield is a four-time first team All-NACC selection and a two-time NACC Player of the Year honoree that also earned the Josten’s Award in 2015-16. She was also a WBCA Honorable Mention honoree last season.
 
Eppard is a three-time All-CCIW honoree and that was a unanimous selection to the CCIW first team this season. She led the Blue Jays in both scoring, 21 points per game, and rebounding, 11 rebounds per game, this season. She is from Englewood, Colorado and is a communication sciences and disorders major with a 3.94 G.P.A.
 
The Academic All-America® women’s team, also at 15 players, has an average G.P.A. of 3.89 with first team posting an amazing 3.95 G.P.A. Five women: Hudepohl, Kirsten Lye (Texas Lutheran), Kara Holinski (MIT), Lori Obendorf (Loras) and Kirsten Rayner (Frostburg State) all post 4.0 GPAs.
 
Nate Axelrod (Ohio Wesleyan), Brandon Federici (Franklin & Marshall), Wes McKinney (Hanover) and Edvinas Rupkus (Skidmore) join Cook on the men’s second team. Louis Khouri (Catholic), Matt St. Amour (Middlebury), Colby Taylor (Central (Iowa)) and Joe Timmes from NYU make up the third team along with Stokman.
 
Chandler, Lye, Sara Dyslin (Hendrix), Katie McDaniels (Wheaton (Illinois)) and Defiance’ Kelsey Tietje comprise the women’s second team. Holinski, Obendorf, Rayner, Camille McPherson (Moravian) and Sara Tarbert (Stevenson) make up the women’s third team.
 
The men’s squad represents 15 different institutions and the women’s 14. Carnegie Mellon is the school with multiple honorees on the women’s side and is also the only school with at least one representative for the men and for the women.


 
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Jeff Schwartz, North Dakota State University
Academic All-America ® Co-Vice-Chair for Publicity/Communications
Jeff.Schwartz@ndsu.edu
(701) 231-8332
 
Scott Musa, Shenandoah University
Academic All-America® Coordinator of Publicity
smusa@su.edu
(540) 665-5417