March 17, 2008

Liz Gillespie & Addie Heim Selected as NAIA Divison II Women's Basketball All-American Scholar Athletes

Liz Gillespie, a senior psycology major from Grain Valley, Mo., was named a 2008 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball All-American Scholar Athlete. This is the secind year in a row that Gillespie has recieved this honor. Liz is a three year team captain for the Spires and finished the season averaging 9.3 points per game and led the team in assists with 85.

USM Women's Basketball Coach Michael Basler is proud to have coached Gillespie the past four years. "Liz has been one of the hardest working players in our program. She has improved herself and this team every year that she has been in the program. We are extremely proud of her and her accomplishments. To be a scholar athlete you have to have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher and be a major contributor on your team, so this is not a one sided honor. You have to prove yourself in the classroom and on the floor at an extremely high level and Liz has done that the past two season. She has been a great example of what this program represents both on and off the court."

Addie Heim , a junior nursing major from Tonganoxie, Ks., was named a 2008 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball All-American Scholar Athlete. Addie is also a team captain for the Spires and finished the season averaging 7.3 points per game and was also the teams second leading rebounding grabbing 144 rebounds this season.

USM Women's Basketball Coach Michael Basler had this to say about Addie; "Addie is a coaches dream. She always give you everything she has to give wether in the classroom or on the basketball court. This year's team accomplished alot this season and Addie was a big part of those accomplishments. She has started every game since arriving here and played the most minutes during her time at USM. I have never been big on giving out an MVP award at the end of the season but, if I were to be asked whom our most vauable players was it would be Addie without question or hesitation."

"We are extremly proud of Liz and Addie's accomplishments."

11/17/07

Saint Mary Women's Basketball Team Wins 2007 Stephens College Tip Off Classic

2/7/2008

University of Saint Mary Women's Basketball Team wore Pink Uniform's as part of "Think Pink Week"

The University of Saint Mary women's basketball team unvailed there "New" pink uniforms February 7th in a home game against Bethany College. The team wore the pink uniforms during the national "Think Pink Week" sponsored by the WBCA (Women's Basketball Coaching Association). The team is the only local NAIA team to have such a luxory, and wore the uniforms in honor of breast cancer awareness across the country.

Head Coach Michael Basler had this to say about the night, "I had wanted pink uniforms since I saw the Penn State women's wear theirs two years ago around the same time. The WBCA was sponsoring the sale of thses particular unifroms and I jumped at the chance to get them around X-mas and didn't let anyone except my wife know about it. I had the team dress and warm-up in our regualr team home uniforms and when we went in for our normal pre-game the pinks were hanging in their lockers. The team was pretty excitied about it and understood the importance of the week and why we were wearing these pink uniforms. I plan to wear these every year from here on out during the "Think Pink Week". TheSpires won the game 79-60.

7/17/07

University of Saint Mary Women's Basketball Team Named 2006-07 Academic All American Scholar Team

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) is proud to announce the 2006-07 NAIA scholar teams. NAIA student-athletes around the country work diligently throughout the year for academic excellence at their respective institutions. This year over 400 teams earned at least a 3.0 team grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) during 2006-07 academic year, as defined by its institution. The women’s basketball team at the University of Saint Mary (KS.) received this honor with a 3.216 team grade point average for the 2006-07 academic school year.

The KCAC had two women's basketball teams receive this honor. Bethel College also received this honor with a team GPA of 3.15. According to the list posted by the NAIA, the University of Saint Mary women's basketball team had the highest team GPA of all the women's basketball teams in the KCAC for the 2006-07 academic year. Head Womne's basketball caoch Michael Basler had this to say about the team's award; "We evaluate and look at all aspects of our program at the conclusion of every season. Last spring our staff made some adjustments in the way we executed our study table and it has paid off immediately. Achieving a team GPA of 3.0 or higher is one of our team's goals every year and we talk about it on the first day of classes every year. To have received this award is really outstanding. We have some extremely talented young ladies on and off the court and I'm proud to get the opportunity to work with them each and everyday. This is the first time in my tenure that our team has accomplished this goal; the 2006-07 team has set the bar for the teams to follow."

3/19/2007

Liz Gillespie Named a 2007 NAIA Division II All-American Scholar Athlete

Liz Gillespie, a junior pre-law major from Grain Valley, Mo., was named a 2007 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball All-American Scholar Athlete. Gillespie started all 29 games for the Spires this season and is one of two team captains for the Lady Spires. She averaged 8.4 points per game and shot 76% from the free throw line, which led the team.

USM Women's Basketball Coach Michael Basler is proud to have coached Gillespie the past few years. "Liz is one of the hardest working players in our program. She has improved herself and this team every year that she has been in the program. We are extremely proud of her and her accomplishments. To be a scholar athlete you have to have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher and be a major contributor on your team, so this is not a one sided honor you have to prove yourself in the classroom and on the floor at an extremely high level and Liz has done that."

02/19/2007

Garcia Breaks USM's Single Season Rebounding Record & Receives ALL KCAC Honors

Freshman Janae Garcia broke the University of Saint Mary women's basketball single season rebounding record this past season by grabbing 264 rebounds on the season. The previous record was held by Amber Seevers of 246 (2002-03). Amber also set the record in her freshman year.

"One of the things we were really excited about for Janae was the night we played our last regular season home game. Amber was in attendance to see her sister Lindsay play her last game. After the game, we had planned on presenting Janae with the game ball in recognition of the record. I asked Amber and she gladly assisted in the presentation of the basketball. It was great for both Janae and Amber," said Coach Basler.

Janae lead the KCAC in rebounding with 264 on the year. She is also ranked 14th in the NAIA in total rebounds with an average of 9.4 a game. She finished the season ranked in four different NAIA Division II rebounding categories. Janae lead the KCAC in rebounding from start to finish.

Janae was also selected to the 2006-07 ALL KCAC freshman team for her play this past season. Janae is the second player under Head Coach Michael Basler to be selected ALL KCAC.