ATLANTA – Portland Pilots Women's Basketball earned special mention in the 2023-24 WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll on Tuesday, announced by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association.
The honor highlights college women's basketball teams across the NCAA, NAIA and two-year colleges that posted the highest combined GPAs. The Pilots have earned at least honorable mention each of the last four seasons, posting a combined 3.58 GPA for the 2023-24 academic year. The Pilots had four players earn WCC All-Academic honors with McKelle Meek making the first team. Along with that, Meek, Maisie Burnham and Lucy Cochrane also earned CSC Academic All-District honors.
The Pilots were just as stellar on the field as in the classroom. They qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row, the seventh time ever and third time in five years after winning the 2024 WCC Tournament Championship, also their third in five seasons. The Pilots finished with a 21-13 record overall, winning 20-plus games for the third seasons in a row, a first for the program since 1997.
Below is the full honor roll along with those who earned special mention.
| Rank |
Institution |
Head Coach |
GPA |
| 1 |
Youngstown State |
John Nicolais |
3.868 |
| 2 |
Western Illinois |
JD Gravina |
3.866 |
| 3 |
Maine |
Amy Vachon |
3.856 |
| 4 |
Northern Illinois |
Lisa Carlsen |
3.811 |
| 5 |
Belmont |
Bart Brooks |
3.803 |
| T6 |
Northern Iowa |
Tanya Warren |
3.780 |
| T6 |
Green Bay |
Kevin Borseth |
3.780 |
| 8 |
Missouri |
Robin Pingeton |
3.772 |
| 9 |
Drake |
Allison Pohlman |
3.736 |
| 10 |
Toledo |
Tricia Cullop |
3.724 |
| 11 |
Abilene Christian |
Julie Goodenough |
3.715 |
| 12 |
Merrimack |
Kelly Morrone |
3.696 |
| 13 |
Davidson |
Gayle Fulks |
3.679 |
| 14 |
California Baptist |
Daniel Cook |
3.675 |
| 15 |
North Florida |
Erika Lambert |
3.674 |
| 16 |
Wyoming |
Heather Ezell |
3.672 |
| 17 |
South Dakota State |
Aaron Johnston |
3.652 |
| 18 |
Houston Christian |
Donna Finnie |
3.636 |
| 19 |
Northern Arizona |
Loree Payne |
3.629 |
| 20 |
Saint Peter's |
Jennifer Leedham |
3.628 |
| 21 |
Gonzaga |
Lisa Fortier |
3.623 |
| 22 |
Boise State |
Gordy Presnell |
3.614 |
| 23 |
Harvard |
Carrie Moore |
3.613 |
| 24 |
Fairleigh Dickinson |
Stephanie Gaitley |
3.606 |
| 25 |
NJIT |
Mike Lane |
3.595 |
Special Mention: Lafayette, Kia Damon-Olson, 3.594;
Portland, Michael Meek, 3.580; UNC Charlotte, Tomekia Reed, 3.573; Robert Morris, Chandler McCabe, 3.540; Holy Cross, Maureen Magarity, 3.535; Drexel, Amy Mallon, 3.533; Bradley , Kate Popovec-Goss, 3.529; DePaul, Doug Bruno, 3.529; Richmond, Aaron Roussell, 3.528; Milwaukee, Kyle Rechlicz, 3.527; Western Michigan, Shane Clipfell, 3.522; Albany, Colleen Mullen, 3.521; Stonehill, Trisha Brown, 3.520; UC Santa Barbara, Renee Jimenez, 3.519; Illinois, Shauna Green, 3.509; Bowling Green, Fred Chmiel, 3.508; East Tennessee State , Brenda Mock Brown, 3.506; Valparaiso, Mary Evans, 3.506; Pacific, Bradley Davis, 3.504; Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Royce Chadwick, 3.495; Fresno State, Jaime White, 3.494; Yale, Dalila Eshe, 3.493; Lehigh , Addie Micir, 3.481; Cleveland State, Chris Kielsmeier, 3.480; Fairfield, Carly Thibault, 3.475; Kent State, Todd Starkey, 3.471; Florida Gulf Coast, Karl Smesko, 3.471; Iona, Angelika Szumilo, 3.464; Utah, Lynne Roberts, 3.446; Binghamton, Bethann Shapiro Ord, 3.438; Creighton, Jim Flanery, 3.428; Indiana, Teri Moren, 3.428; Eastern Washington, Joddie Gleason, 3.421; Colgate, Ganiyat Adeduntan, 3.420; Elon, Charlotte Smith, 3.419; Georgetown, Darnell Haney, 3.419; Villanova, Denise Dillon, 3.417; Vanderbilt, Shea Ralph, 3.416; La Salle, Mountain MacGillivray, 3.413; San Diego, Cindy Fisher, 3.412; Florida State, Brooke Wyckoff, 3.410; Montana State, Tricia Binford, 3.409; Saint Joseph's, Cindy Griffin, 3.401; Stanford, Tara VanDerveer, 3.401; Iowa State, Bill Fennelly, 3.389; Alabama, Kristy Curry, 3.386; Longwood, Erika Lang-Montgomery, 3.383; Illinois State, Kristen Gillespie, 3.380; South Florida, Jose Fernandez, 3.377; Lipscomb, Lauren Sumski, 3.372; Ohio State, Kevin McGuff, 3.372; Denver, Doshia Woods, 3.365; UC Irvine, Tamara Inoue, 3.362; Syracuse, Felisha Legette-Jack, 3.358; California, Charmin Smith, 3.339; Georgia State, Gene Hill, 3.329; New Hampshire, Megan Shoniker, 3.328; Iowa, Lisa Bluder, 3.327; Tulane, Ashley Langford, 3.320; Louisville, Jeff Walz, 3.319; Nevada , Amanda Levens, 3.312; Hofstra, Danielle Santos Atkinson, 3.308; Bethune-Cookman, Janell Crayton, 3.303; Rider , Lynn Milligan, 3.302; Tennessee, Kellie Harper, 3.301; Seton Hall, Anthony Bozzella, 3.298; Portland State, Chelsey Gregg, 3.298; UAB, Randy Norton, 3.297; Liberty, Carey Green, 3.296; Kansas State, Jeff Mittie, 3.281; Penn State, Carolyn Kieger, 3.281; Pennsylvania, Mike McLaughlin, 3.272; St. Bonaventure, James Crowley, 3.250; Massachusetts, Mike Leflar, 3.246; Kansas, Brandon Schneider, 3.245; Sacramento State, Aaron Kallhoff, 3.243; Tulsa, Angie Nelp, 3.239; UNLV, Lindy La Rocque, 3.238; Colorado, JR Payne, 3.225; Niagara, Jada Pierce, 3.222; Southern Illinois, Kelly Bond-White, 3.220; Oklahoma State, Jacie Hoyt, 3.216; Arizona State, Natasha Adair, 3.188; Brigham Young, Amber Whiting, 3.178; West Virginia, Mark Kellogg, 3.163; Central Florida, Sytia Messer, 3.156; Texas A&M-Commerce, Valerie King, 3.151; Oklahoma, Jennie Baranczyk, 3.139; Illinois Chicago, Ashleen Bracey, 3.129; Notre Dame, Niele Ivey, 3.122; UMass Lowell, Denise King, 3.117; Rutgers, Coquese Washington, 3.094; Maryland, Brenda Frese, 3.087; St. John's, Joe Tartamella, 3.078; Georgia Southern, Anita Howard, 3.046; North Carolina, Courtney Banghart, 3.012; Texas Tech, Krista Gerlich, 3.009; North Texas, Jason Burton, 3.005.
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