Lady Jackets’ Langford Receives Academic Award (2/9/06)

BILLINGS, MT – Montana State-Billings senior Jenny Langford was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII second team on Thursday.  Langford was the only player from any Montana college or university to be named to the annual academic teams that are selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. 

Langford has a 3.95 cumulative grade point average in education and will graduate on time this May.  She is currently student teaching in Billings while playing in her final semester of eligibility for the Yellowjackets.  Langford has earned academic honors all nine semesters at MSU Billings and has posted a 4.00 GPA in eight of the nine semesters. 

In addition to excelling in the classroom, Langford has been one of the Lady Yellowjackets’ leaders on the court this season.  She has helped lead the team to a school-record 14 game winning streak, averaging 10.9 points per game.  She currently ranks first in the Heartland Conference for 3-pointers made, first for 3-point field goal percentage, and fourth for assists.  Langford is also currently eighth in NCAA Division II for 3-point percentage and 28th nationally for 3-pointers made per game.

Entering this weekend’s two-game series at St. Edward’s University in Austin, Tex., Langford is moving up the school record books in a number of categories.  She is second all-time at MSU Billings for career 3-pointers with 174.  The school record is 194 set by Amy Winslow.  Langford is also seventh for career 3-point percentage (37.5), eighth for career assists (268), and 24th for career points (778).  Her 40 3-pointers this season are already the fifteenth-most in school history for a single season, and she still has seven regular season games and the conference playoffs remaining.

The CoSIDA Academic All-America program divides the country into eight districts.  Schools from Montana are part of District VII, which also includes Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Alberta and Saskatchewan.  Nominees for the All-District VII Women’s Basketball Team could come from any Division II, Division III, or NAIA school in any of those states.