Honors & Awards

Women's Basketball

2002-03 Final Regular Season Women's Basketball Standings
(thru Feb. 22, 2003)

	Team	HAAC	NET
1	William Jewell	18-2	25-7
	Evangel	18-2	24-8
3	MidAmerica Nazarene	16-4	22-6
4	Benedictine	13-7	17-13
5	Baker	12-8	17-14
6	Graceland	11-9	17-14
7	Culver-Stockton	6-14	10-21
	Avila	6-14	13-19
9	Central Methodist	5-15	11-21
	Lindenwood	5-15	8-20
11	Missouri Valley	0-20	0-32

Two Graceland women were named to the 2002-2003 All-Conference Basketball Teams at the conference meeting on February 23, 2003.

Senior Michelle Acosta was the runner-up for Player of the Year in the Heart of America Conference and Senior Gennifer Divelbiss was named to the Honorable Mention Team.

Acosta finished the season ranked in the top six positions in six conference statistical categories, including: #1 in scoring (21.4 ppg), #1 in steals (3.8 spg), #2 in assists (4.5 apg), #4 in field goal percentage (42.8), #6 in free throw percentage (73.3%) and #6 in rebounding (7.4 rpg).

Divelbiss ended conference play ranked #3 in rebounds with 8.5 per game.

Senior guard Michelle Acosta was named Heart of America Athletic Conference (HAAC) Women’s Basketball Player of the Week from January 12-18 for the second week in a row and the third time this season.

 

Acosta shot 48.4 percent from the field and averaged 27.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 5.0 steals in three games this week for the Yellowjackets.  Graceland defeated Lindenwood (81-79) on Jan. 13, but fell to both Robert Morris (58-60) and Baker (73-86) in the other contests of the week. 

 

Acosta had a double-double in the Baker game, scoring 33 points and grabbing 13 rebounds, and scored 28 points, had nine steals, seven rebounds and seven assists in the win over Lindenwood. 

 

The HAAC currently ranks the five-foot-five Midland, Texas native first in the conference in scoring (22.1) and steals (4.3), second in assists (4.7) and field goal percentage (44%), sixth in free throw percentage (73%) and twelfth in rebounding (6.5).

 

Graceland’s upcoming games include Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. against Missouri Valley in the Closson and Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m. MidAmerica Nazarene in Olathe, Kan.

Michelle Acosta, a senior at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa, was named Heart of America Athletic Conference Player of the Week for Jan. 5-11, 2003.

 

Acosta poured in a school-record 38 points versus Evangel to up her scoring average to 27.7 for her three-game week.  She also scored 32 points against Avila.  The five-foot-five guard averaged 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 4.7 steals for the week.

 

Acosta, from Midland, Texas, is leading the Graceland Yellowjackets with 21.5 points per game while shooting 43 percent from the field and has 6.1 rebounds per contest, 84 assists, 75 steals.

 

The most recent HAAC report ranks Acosta first in the conference in scoring (21.6 points per game) and steals (4.0 per game), second in field goal percentage (44.7 %) and assists (5 per game), fourth in free throw percentage (73.6 %) and fifteenth in rebounds (6.0 per game).

 

“She had a fantastic week, and it carried on into the Lindenwood game when she had 28 points,” says Dan Hanton, women’s basketball coach at Graceland.

 

Acosta was also the HAAC Player of the Week for Dec. 1-7, 2002.