SEATTLE (Mar. 15) ­ Gyongyver "Gus" Balogh of Seattle Pacific University has been chosen to the Verizon Academic All-America® Women's Basketball Team announced today by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Balogh, a senior forward from Szombathely, Hungary, who was previously voted Pacific West Conference player of the year and all-region, has a 3.91 grade point average (GPA) as an economics major and was named to the College Division's first team. She averaged 17.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game for the Falcons (24-4), who advanced to the NCAA West Region championship last week and finished 19th in the final Division II poll. SPU had earlier won the PacWest title.

Balogh becomes the first member of the SPU women's program to earn Academic All-America. An academic all-district selection each of the past two seasons, she is a finalist for the All-America team to be announced next week.

The College Division's first team includes Team Member of the Year Emily Bloss of Emporia St., a graduate student from Wellsville, Kan. (3.95/health promotion).

The Verizon Academic All-America Teams are selected by a vote of the 1,800-member CoSIDA. Sports information directors nominate eligible athletes from their schools who are named to district teams prior to being voted upon the national level. CoSIDA has been selecting Academic All-America® Teams since 1952.

Following is a list of the 2001 Verizon Academic All-America® Women's Basketball first team in the College Division:

2001 VERIZON ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA® WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAMS
Gyongyver Balogh Seattle Pacific Sr. Szombathely, Hungary 3.91/Economics
Emily Bloss** Emporia St. Sr. Wellsville, Kan. 3.95/Health Promotion
Cristina Estrada MIT Sr. Bogota, Colombia 4.9 (5.0 scale)/Economics
Bess Greenberg Binghamton Sr. Vestal, N.Y. 3.74/English
Jill Razor Rollins Sr. Athens, Ga. 3.85/Pre-Med. Biology
**Team Member of the Year