First time selected to first team, second selection overall

CULLOWHEE, N.C. ? Western Carolina women’s basketball player Brooke Johnson has been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 3 First Team. With the first team all-district selection, Johnson now advances to the national ballot.

Johnson, a senior center from Seymour, Tenn., carries a 3.90 GPA in Criminal Justice and was a candidate for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award. Though Johnson did not make the finalist list for the Lowe’s Senior Class Award, which was announced February 4, she was still recognized as one of the top 30 seniors in the nation.

This is Johnson’s second ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District selection. As a junior, Johnson was named to the second team.

Pacing the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 10.6 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, Johnson is also chasing the Lady Catamount career blocks record. She currently has 107 blocks, making her just the third women’s basketball player in school history to go over 100 blocks, and needs 21 blocks to take over first place. Former women’s basketball player Jeanne Marvel (1987-88) holds the record with 127.

It is the fourth time in school history a Western Carolina women’s basketball player has been named to the Academic All-District First Team. Former Lady Catamount Yoneko Allen made the first team twice, 2003 and 2004, and Laura Echols was placed on the first team in 2002.

Western Carolina continues its three-game home stand Saturday hosting Southern Conference rival Appalachian State. Tip time is set for 4 p.m.