ATLANTA - The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced the All-Region nominees for 2017 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America. The selection committee will select the 10-member WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America team from these 52 candidates. Of the 52 candidates, three are out of the BIG EAST in DePaul’s Jessica January and Brooke Schulte, and Marquette’s Allazia Blockton.
The selection committee uses an equation to determine an equitable number of nominees from each region. The number of NCAA Division I institutions in each region is divided by the number of NCAA Division I institutions overall to determine a percentage for each region. This percentage is then multiplied by 52 (the total number of desired finalists) to get the number of finalists for each region.
The 2017 WBCA NCAA Division I Coaches’ All-America team will be announced Saturday, April 1 during the WBCA Convention in Dallas.
Schulte was the BIG EAST Conference Player of the Year, Most Improved Player award winner and BIG EAST Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year in addition to being selected to the All-BIG EAST First Team. The senior guard was the leading scorer in conference play.
January overcame a two-month absence because of a hand injury to post her second career triple double in only her second game back. She was the BIG EAST Preseason Player of the Year and landed on the John R. Wooden Award Top 25 List, Nancy Lieberman Award Watch List, Naismith Trophy Preseason Watch List and was a Senior CLASS Award Finalist.
Blockton led Marquette and the BIG EAST Conference with 17.1 points per game and was a unanimous selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team. The sophomore became Marquette's youngest player to reach 1,000 career points and the 25th in program history and has already jumped to 21st all-time with 1,126 points after two seasons.
BIG EAST All-Region Honorees
Allazia Blockton, Marquette, So., G
Jessica January, DePaul, Sr., G
Brooke Schulte, DePaul, Sr., G
Full WBCA Release