Woodlands Academy basketball team wins All-State academic honor
The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association has announced its 2024 Academic All-State Team awards. Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart’s varsity basketball team members won third-place honors among girls’ teams in Division Two for their achievements in the classroom as determined by their combined grade point average of 3.79 on a nonweighted 4.0 scale.
IBCA’s awards program is a competition between schools within each of the seven Illinois High School Association legislative divisions. To qualify, a school must have its entire varsity basketball team roster meet the minimum standard of a cumulative 3.0 GPA through the first semester of the current school year.
The basketball team with the highest GPA in each IHSA legislative division receives a plaque at the State-Wide Coach’s Clinic held each September. The second- and third-place teams each receive a certificate in the mail from the IBCA in recognition of their accomplishments.
“I’m so proud of our varsity team members for receiving such significant recognition from my fellow Illinois coaches,” said Larry Farmer, Woodlands Academy’s head basketball coach. “These girls truly give it their all in the classroom as well as on the basketball court.”
Athletic Director Dana Daly added her congratulations to the team for earning an IBCA Academic All-State Team designation.
“This award recognizes the type of student-athlete that Woodlands attracts,” she said. “Our students work hard in the classroom and on the court. Way to go!”
IBCA has been serving basketball coaches in Illinois since 1971. Its mission is to honor, promote and develop the game of basketball in Illinois through various means such as providing multiple coaching clinics and roundtables each year. It also maintains the IBCA Hall of Fame for Coaches, Players, Officials, Sportswriters, Teams and Friends of Basketball.
Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic, independent, day-and-boarding, college-preparatory school for young women of all faiths in grades nine through 12. Founded in Chicago in 1858 and located in Lake Forest since 1904, Woodlands is part of a worldwide network of Sacred Heart Schools that spans the United States and 40 other countries on six continents. To learn more, visit woodlandsacademy.org.