COLLEGES
Bona, Niagara teams make women’s basketball honor roll
The St. Bonaventure and Niagara women’s basketball teams both earned national recognition for academic performance.
Both were placed on the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Team Honor Roll. The Purple Eagles finished 13th among Division I schools with a cumulative team grade-point average of 3.361. It was the seventh time in 10 years Niagara made the WBCA list.
For the Bonnies, it was the fifth time in the last six years they’ve earned the honor. Bona’s 3.352 cumulative team grade point average ranked 15th among Division I schools. It was the only Atlantic 10 program to earn the honor.
Meanwhile, Buffalo State sophomore track athlete Latoya D. Edwards added a prestigious academic honor, being named to the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic team.
Edwards was a three-time All- American in 2008 after placing third in the 55 meters at the indoor championships, fifth in the outdoor meet in the 200 and being part of the fifth-place 4x100 relay team. She is a health and wellness major with a 3.39 cumulative grade point average.
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Incoming Canisius freshman Stephanie McDonald was one of 12 basketball players named to the 2008 Canadian Junior Women’s National Team. The squad will represent Canada at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship July 23-27, in Buenos Aires. The top four finishers from the six-team tournament will be qualified automatically for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship to be held in Thailand on July 23-August 2, 2009.
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Jennifer Teague will become the second softball head coach in the Division I era for the University at Buffalo. Teague was recently appointed to the position after the school did not renew the contract of Marie Curren.
Teague joins the Bulls after serving three years as the top assistant and pitching coach at Eastern Michigan. She also was the head coach of the Philadelphia Force of the National Pro Fastpitch League.
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Buffalo State’s women’s hockey team added Meaghan Guckian to its coaching staff. Guckian, a native of Victor, graduated from St. Lawrence in May with a degree in psychology. She was a standout goaltender for Division I St. Lawrence, where she played for four NCAA Tournament teams and three Frozen Four squads. In 107 career games she went 75-25-8 with 17 shutouts and a 2.03 goals against average.
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The Canisius hockey team will play five games against NCAA Tournament teams and 16 home contests on its 2008-09 schedule. The Griffs begin the regular season with a pair of games at Ferris State of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association on Oct. 10-11. It will be the first meeting between the schools.
The annual showdown with Niagara will take place Nov. 11 at Dwyer Arena.
Other highlights include hosting Merrimack on Oct. 26, marking the first time Canisius has played a team from Hockey East at the Buffalo State Sports Arena, along with road games against NCAA teams Clarkson (Nov. 28-29) and Air Force (Jan. 16-17).
••• Five baseball players for the University at Buffalo earned all-star status for their respective summer leagues.
In the New England Collegiate Baseball League, pitcher Zach Anderson (Williamsville East) and Jacob Rosenbeck (Medina) were all-star selections. Anderson had not allowed an earned run in 21.1 innings while Rosenbeck was fourth on his team with a .324 batting average.
Brad Agustin (Williamsville East) earned the honor in the Southern Collegiate League, batting .427 with six home runs and 41 runs batted in.
In the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League, Adam Skonieczki and Mike Stangroom each played in the all-star game. Skonieczki was batting .345 while Stangroom had a 3.50 earned run average in 43c innings.
