Four Buffs On Academic All-Big 12 Women's Basketball Team

BOULDER - University of Colorado juniors Susie Powers and Jackie McFarland and sophomore Caley Dow have been selected to the 2007 Academic All-Big 12 Women's Basketball first team while senior Courtney Wallace was named to the second team, the league office announced on Wednesday.

Powers, a 5-foot, 10-inch guard from Centennial, Colo., makes her first appearance on the Academic All-Big 12 team. She has started 26 of 28 games this season averaging 3.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Powers is second on the team in assists with 59 and third in 3-point field goals with 31. A Spanish major, Powers was also a two-time member of the Big East Academic All Star team from her playing days at Notre Dame.

McFarland, a 6-3 forward from Derby, Kan., earns her second straight Academic All-Big 12 first team acclaim. She is averaging 17.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game while hitting 61 percent from the floor. She leads the Big 12 Conference in field-goal percentage and ranked fifth in NCAA Division I through games of Feb. 22. McFarland ranks second in the Big 12 in rebounding, third in scoring, and also leads the league in minutes (36.1 mpg). An accounting major, she was just named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America team for the second straight season on Feb. 27.

            Dow, a 6-2 forward from Littleton, Colo., is a first team Academic All-Big 12 member in her first season of eligibility. She has played in 20 of 28 games this season totaling 34 points and 43 rebounds while shooting 44 percent from the field. Dow is a Spanish for the Professions major who has played in 50 career games for the Buffs, averaging 3.7 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

            Wallace, a 5-10 forward from Colorado Springs, Colo., earns her first Academic All-Big 12 mention. Wallace, who will officially graduate this spring with her degree in sociology, originally came to the Buffaloes from the CU-Colorado Springs campus in 2004. She has played in 22 career games for CU and was cited as the team's Practice Player of the Year for the 2005-06 season.

            Academic All-Big 12 team members are nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services and media relations offices. First team members consist of those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA and the second team members are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence.

            Colorado finished the regular season at 12-16 and will play a first round game in the 2007 Big 12 Championship tournament on Tuesday, March 6, at the COX Center in Oklahoma City. Time and opponent have yet to be determined.