Women's Basketball

Olsen lauded with Capital One Academic All-District honor, advances to national ballot

COLCHESTER, Vt. - Saint Michael's College women's basketball junior Megan Olsen (Glenmont, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) was among five players selected for the Capital One NCAA Division II Academic All-District 1 team, it was announced on Thursday. Olsen, who earned an accolade voted upon by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), advances to the Academic All-America national ballot.

Olsen, who was among three Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball players to be honored, became the first member of her program to earn an Academic All-District recognition since Jevy Rayner '07 during the 2006-07 season. An economics and psychology double major, Olsen is in her first season playing only basketball, having also competed in soccer as a freshman and sophomore. She was named NE-10 Academic All-Conference for fall 2010 and has landed on the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll five times.

A versatile 5-foot-10 guard, Olsen is tied for first on her team in steals (32), second in free throw shooting (83.3%), third in scoring (9.3), assists (41), field goal shooting (44.8%) and three-pointers (16), and fourth in rebounding (3.5). She stands ninth in the league in free throw percentage.

Olsen scored at least 15 points five times, including netting 20 versus 17th-ranked Franklin Pierce University on Nov. 27 and 17 at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell on Tuesday, going 4-of-5 from three-point range. She has been a major contributor to a defense that allows 56.5 points per game and has tied a school record by yielding 60 points or fewer 15 times, in 20 games. Saint Michael's is 10-10 overall and 7-9 in the NE-10.

To be nominated for the Academic All-America program, a student-athlete must be at least a sophomore in academic standing, possess at least a 3.30 cumulative grade-point average and be a starter or significant reserve. The NCAA Division II District 1 consists of members of the NE-10, Central Athletic Collegiate Conference, and East Coast Conference.

This is the first year of the expanded Academic All-America program, as CoSIDA moved away from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and aims to double the number of scholar-athletes honorees. There are now four teams, one apiece lauding NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.