Share Tweet Share Email

Amanda Corral named Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-American

February 26, 2015
Amanda Corral

Amanda Corral

Senior Amanda Corral (Hobart, Ind./Hobart) was named Thursday morning to the Capital One CoSIDA Academic All-America team, being chosen to this year’s first team.

She is the first Academic All-American since Doreen Zierer was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-America third team in 1982 and the first-ever first team selection in program history.

“This is very exciting for Amanda and our program. I’m so happy for her because she puts in so much on and off the court with her studies and her game,” said head coach Kathi Bennett. “She’s earned this award and I just couldn’t be happier for her right now. It’s great to see her hard work be recognized on a national level like it is right now.”

Carrying a 4.0 grade point average in the classroom, Corral is concentrating in pre-physical therapy. After graduating, the Hobart, Ind., native intends on going to medical school. Corral is the lone undergraduate on this year’s first team. The rest of this year’s selection are graduate students.

On the court, Corral is having a career year with the Huskies, averaging 17.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. From the field this season, she’s shooting .457 with a .433 mark behind the three-point line. Twice this season, Corral has been named MAC Player of the Week, earning the honor in consecutive weeks (Feb. 2, Feb. 9).

Seven times this season, Corral has scored 20-or-more points, including two games with 30-plus. She set a career-high against Akron on Feb. 7 when she scored 31 points to lift NIU past the Zips for the first time since 2012. In the last nine games, the Hobart, Ind., native is averaging 21.1 points per game and shooting .482 from the field.

Amanda CorralTo be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at his or her current institution, and be nominated by his sports information director.

Corral is the 65th CoSIDA Academic All-American in NIU Athletics history and the second for Northern Illinois University this school year, joining men’s soccer Dusty Page, who was named a third team selection in the fall. She’s only the second selection in NIU women’s basketball history alongside Zierer. She is the 22nd first team selection NIU history and the first since football’s Alan Baxter in 2012.

As a department and academic institution, NIU posted an 89 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest report, which ranks as the best in the Mid-American Conference and is seven percentage points better than the national Division I average. This year’s report also marks the seventh-straight year that the Huskies’ GSR topped 80 percent, and tops last year’s mark of 85 percent.

The Huskies will return to action Saturday when it heads to Eastern Michigan for an afternoon matinee with the Eagles. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. Central at the EMU Convocation Center.

For more information on NIU women’s basketball and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.