Lieber, Carpenter Earn Academic Awards (2/8/07)

BILLINGS, MT – Montana State-Billings women’s basketball players Michelle Lieber and Alira Carpenter have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII Third Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).  Lieber is a senior forward from Gillette, Wyo.  Carpenter is a sophomore guard from Lewistown, Mont.

Lieber has a 3.27 cumulative grade point average in business.  The senior captain is the reigning Heartland Conference Player of the Year and has been named the conference player of the week three times this season.  She is currently averaging 16.1 points and 8.7 rebounds per game.  Lieber ranks first in school history for career field goal percentage and holds the top three single season records for field goal percentage.  She also currently leads NCAA Division II with a 68.9 percent field goal percentage.  Last week she became the 18th player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career points

Carpenter has a 3.37 cumulative GPA in chemistry.  She is the leading scorer in the Heartland Conference, averaging 17.5 points per game, and has been named the conference player of the week three times this season.  After just 51 career games, Carpenter already ranks seventh in school history for career 3-pointers and is in the top 30 for career points scored.  Carpenter currently ranks fourth in the nation for 3-point field goal percentage and sixth for 3-pointers made.  She is also in the top 40 in NCAA II for scoring average.

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.  Sports Information Directors from each district nominate and vote for the academic teams.