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NIU's Corral brings her 'A' game to court and classroom

Like many of us, Amanda Corral would just as soon forget her middle school years.

They certainly weren't a great representation of who she is now - one of the most accomplished students in the history of the Northern Illinois athletics.

Corral, a 5-foot-6 senior guard and the leading scorer on the women's basketball team, is a pre-physical therapy major, minoring in biology and preparing for medical school. She racks up A's faster than she does baskets.

"I was actually a terrible student in middle school. I got C's and I wasn't well-behaved," said Corral, a native of Hobart, Ind., who averaged 16.2 ppg this season. "But I got better in high school. Some of the girls on my basketball team were really driven and in all the top classes, and I didn't want to be left out. So I tried harder and I worked harder. My freshman year in high school, I got A's and B's. After that, I got all A's in high school."

Since arriving at NIU, Corral has never received any grade other than an A. In any of her classes. Ever. She earned a 4.0 GPA for four straight years.

"My mom always jokes that she feels sorry for the teacher who gives me a B," Corral said with a laugh. "I don't think I'd know what to do. I just expect to get all A's now."

Corral, a first-team all-MAC selection for her talents on the court, was also rewarded for her tenacity in the classroom by being named a first-team academic All-American.

Her placement on the Capital One CoSIDA All-American team is historic. Corral is the first player from the women's basketball team to earn a first-team academic All-American selection. And in the entire history of the Northern Illinois athletics, she is just the 22nd athlete to earn first-team honors and the 65th overall to be an All-American.

"This is just huge for me," said Corral, who aspires to be an orthopedic surgeon for an athletic team. "It's been my goal to be an academic All-American. There is this study room in the Convocation Center where there are all these name plates on the wall for the people who have been named to the academic All-American team. I've studied in there a lot over the years and I would look at all those names. I've wanted to get my name in there."

It took more than good grades to do it.

Busy with basketball, she has had little time for anything else at NIU besides schoolwork.

"I really don't do the normal college thing," said Corral, a twin whose sister Alycia is just as driven and also applying to medical school.

"I don't go out all the time and do all the parties," Corral said. "My priorities are basketball and academics. If I have some free time after that, then maybe I'll do something else. But I spend a lot of time studying or doing homework. I'm up until 2 a.m. almost every night doing work."

It hardly showed on the court this season. Corral's scoring average (16.4 ppg) ranked fourth in the Mid-American Conference. A dangerous 3-point shooter, she led the MAC in 3-point field goal percentage at 42 percent. She also averaged 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.

Corral exploded for 30 or more points twice this season and scored 20 or more points eight times. With 11 points in the Huskies' loss to Central Michigan in the first round of the MAC tournament on Monday, she finished with 1,505 career points to become one of only 11 NIU players to reach the 1,500-point mark.

Northern Illinois ended the season with a 12-16 record.

"It was really disappointing that we lost because we wanted to keep the season going," said Corral, a starter since her freshman year. "I got pretty emotional after the game. I was crying. It hit me that I wouldn't be playing for Northern again.

"But you can't think of your career based on just one game. I'm pretty satisfied with how my season went and how my career at Northern went."

Corral almost didn't go to Northern. She had an offer from Valparaiso and was tempted to join her twin sister, who was going to run track.

"Then I decided that I wanted to go somewhere on my own," Corral said. "Everyone knew us as the Corral twins. A lot of people didn't even know our first names. We were just 'the twins.'

"I wanted to go somewhere that people knew me as just Amanda. I wanted to make a name for myself."

Corral certainly did that. And she'll soon have the name plate to prove it.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com

Follow Patricia on Twitter @babcockmcgraw.

Photo courtesy of NIU athletics/Scott WalstromNorthern Illinois senior guard Amanda Corral was the leading scorer for the Huskies this season at 16.4 points per game.
Photo courtesy of NIU athletics/Scott WalstromNorthern Illinois guard Amanda Corral earned the program's first Academic all-American honors for a perfect 4.0 grade point average in her four years at NIU.
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