The Northern Illinois University women’s basketball team was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll on Wednesday. The Huskies had the fourth-highest team grade point average in NCAA Division I with a 3.811 GPA.

This is the fourth consecutive year NIU has ranked in the top 10 of the WBCA Division I Academic Top 25. In 2023 the Huskies were third in the nation in team GPA. NIU has been in the WBCA Academic Top 25 Honor Roll in each of the last six years.

“Our program has set a high standard for academic achievement,” said head coach Lisa Carlsen. “To be in the top-five in the nation academically for a second year in a row shows the commitment our student-athletes have to meeting, and exceeding, those expectations. I’m extremely proud of our student-athletes for once again being among the top academic teams in the country.”

NIU tied a program record with nine Academic All-MAC selections, led by All-MAC Third Team forward Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles). The Huskies return two College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honorees in Stonebraker and redshirt-senior guard Sidney McCrea (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Prairie). It was the seventh consecutive season NIU had at least six Academic All-MAC selections.

NIU is one of two Mid-American Conference programs in the WBCA Academic Top 25, joining Toledo who ranked 10^th.

The WBCA Academic Top 25 recognizes NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA and two-year college women’s basketball teams across the country that carry the highest combined GPAs inclusive of all student-athletes on their rosters for the entire season.