The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team has a league-high nine Academic All-MAC selections as the Mid-American Conference announced its Academic All-MAC Team on Thursday.

“Leading the conference in Academic All-MAC honorees is a big accomplishment for our program,” said head coach Lisa Carlsen. “We take immense pride in the academic success of our student-athletes, whose efforts on the court are matched by their work in the classroom.”

This ties the most Huskies named to the Academic All-MAC Team. In 2023 NIU had nine selections and tied Western Michigan for the most in the conference. This is the seventh consecutive year that NIU women’s basketball has had at least six student athletes named to the Academic All-MAC team.

Brooke Stonebraker, Jayden Marable, Sidney McCrea and Grace Hunter were all named to the Academic All-MAC team for the third time in their careers. Stonebraker was an All-MAC Third Team selection this season after leading NIU with 11.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Marable earned Honorable Mention All-MAC honors after leading the Huskies with 4.4.1 assists per game and was second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game. McCrea made a team-high 59 three-pointers and averaged 9.4 points per game.

Laura Nickel was named to the Academic All-MAC Team for the second time in her career. Tara Stauffacher, Kortney Drake, Moriah Prewitt and Brooke Blumenfeld were selected to the Academic All-MAC Team for the first time in their careers. Stonebraker, Marable, McCrea and Stauffacher were all CSC Academic All-District selections in March.

To be eligible for the Academic All-MAC Team, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.2 cumulative GPA and participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport.

2023-24 NIU Women’s Basketball Academic All-MAC Selections

Brooke Blumenfeld, Redshirt-Freshman, Organizational/Corporate Communications, 3.758 GPA (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North)

Kortney Drake, Senior, Applied Human Development and Family Sciences, 3.962 GPA (Wilton, Iowa/Kirkwood CC)

Grace Hunter, Senior, Exercise Physiology, 4.00 GPA (Monroeville, Ind./Bellmont)%!

Jayden Marable, Senior, Business Administration, 3.583 GPA (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook)^!

Sidney McCrea, Redshirt-Junior, Biomechanical Engineering, 3.971 GPA (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie)^!

Laura Nickel, Junior, Health Sciences, 3.988 GPA (Marshall, Wis./Marshall)!

Moriah Prewitt, Junior, Business Administration, 4.00 GPA (Urbandale, Iowa/Des Moines Christian School)

Tara Stauffacher, Senior, Kinesiology, 3.77 GPA (Columbus, Wis./Wisconsin)

Brooke Stonebraker, Senior, Art Studio-Design & Media Arts, 3.779 GPA (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles)^!

% – 2020-21 Academic All-MAC Selection

^ – 2021-22 Academic All-MAC Selection

! – 2022-23 Academic All-MAC Selection