April 5, 2009
TEMPE, Ariz. - For the third consecutive year the Arizona State women's basketball team finished on top of the Pac-10 in academics as the Sun Devils had five student-athletes named to the Pac-10's Women's Basketball All-Academic teams, recently announced by Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen.
While ASU's five student-athletes on the list tied Stanford for the most in the conference, the Sun Devils distinguished themselves by having two first-team members (seniors Sybil Dosty and Kate Engelbrecht) and one second-team member (junior Danielle Orsillo). Two other Sun Devils (senior Kirsten Thompson and junior Kayli Murphy) earned honorable-mention honors.
Last season ASU paced the Pac-10 with seven honorees, including two student-athletes named to the first team (Engelbrecht and former Sun Devil Jill Noe) and one named to the second team (former Sun Devil Reagan Pariseau). Two years ago ASU led the conference with a school record eight honorees, including two first-team members (former Sun Devils Aubree Johnson and Emily Westerberg) and one second-team member (Engelbrecht). Nearly half (9 of 20) of ASU's Pac-10 All-Academic citations the last three years have been of the first- (6) or second-team (3) variety.
It's the third time both Engelbrecht (second team in 2007 and first team in 2008) and Orsillo (honorable mention each of the last two seasons) have been named to the Pac-10's All-Academic Team. It's the second time for Dosty (honorable mention last season), who was also named the Pac-10's Scholar Athlete of the Year for women's basketball last month. Thompson is making her third appearance on the list (honorable mention in 2007 and 2008) while Murphy is being recognized for the first time.
To be eligible for selection to the Pac-10 All-Academic team, a student-athlete must have a minimum 3.0 overall grade-point average and be either a starter or significant contributor.