Hope College basketball players Ben Gardner and Maura McAfee have received Academic All-District honors from the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Both student-athletes are among five players chosen in their respective District 6s that cover the states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Both now will be considered for CoSIDA Academic All-America recognition.
McAfee is a senior forward from Midland, Michigan (Midland HS). She carries a 3.69
grade point average while pursing a major in biology. She plans to attend graduate
school for physical therapy.
McAfee is averaging a team-high 15.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game this season for the third-ranked and 22-0 Flying Dutch.
McAfee became Hope’s all-time leading rebounder this season. She needs 23 more rebounds to become the first Flying Dutch to reach 1,000 rebounds.
McAfee also ranks fourth among Flying Dutch players all-time with 1,304 points.
Gardner is a senior guard from Carmel, Indiana (Carmel HS). He holds a 3.70 GPA with
a major of public accounting.
Gardner tops the seventh-ranked and 20-2 Flying Dutchmen with 15.1 points, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
Gardner ranks 19th all-time among Flying Dutchmen players with 1,203 career points.
Gardner was named earlier this week to the National Association of Basketball Coache Association Allstate Good Works Team.
In every Academic All-District™ team selection, the First-team Academic All-District™ honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month. This year in the basketball Academic All-District™ listings, all honorees are first team choices.
The Division II and Division III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2015-16 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.