Four Griffins Honored on CSC DIII Academic All-District Women’s Basketball Team
By Greg Gornick
Gwynedd Mercy University provided four student-athletes to the recently released 2022-2023 College Sports Communicators (CSC) DIII Academic All-District Women’s Basketball Team. Seniors, Haley Crossley, Kelly Owens, and Elise Sylvester were joined by junior Ava Casale among the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances on the field and in the classroom.
A two-year captain, 2021-2022 All-Atlantic East Conference (AEC) performer (1st Team), and recent addition to the 1,000-point club, Crossley is a two-time member of the Gwynedd Mercy University Athletics Academic Elite (Fall 2022, Spring 2022) and a three-time member of the AEC All-Academic Team (2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022). She has made six appearances on the AEC Women’s Basketball Weekly Report this season, earning three Defensive Player of the Week honors, two Offensive Player of the Week titles, and one Honor Roll recognition.
Like Crossley, Sylvester is also a two-year captain, 2021-2022 All-AEC performer (2nd Team), and a recent addition to the 1,000-point club. She was a member of the Gwynedd Mercy University Athletic Academic Elite for Fall 2022 and is a three-time member of the AEC All-Academic Team. Sylvester appeared on four AEC Women’s Basketball Weekly Reports this season, earning a pair of Offensive Player of the Week honors and a pair of Honor Roll recognitions.
Casale is a two-time member of the both the Gwynedd Mercy University Athletics Academic Elite (Fall 2022, Spring 2022) and the AEC All-Academic Team. Meanwhile, Owens is a three-time member of the Gwynedd Mercy University Athletics Academic Elite (Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022) and a two-time member of the AEC All-Academic Team.
The Academic All-America program is conducted by the members of the CSC and separately recognizes soccer honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. Academic All-District honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America ballot. First, Second, and Third Team Academic All-America honorees will be announced in mid-March.