West Coast Conference All-Academic Honors for Women’s and Men’s Hoops

The West Coast Conference announced the 2023–24 All-Academic Teams for women’s and men’s basketball on March 6, and multiple Saint Mary’s Gaels were recognized on both teams. For the women, SMC’s Ali Bamberger was named to the WCC All-Academic Team, and five of her teammates earned honorable mentions. For the men, Luke Barrett and Chris Howell earn spots on the All-Academic team—a first for both players.

Women’s Basketball: A 4.0 and a Spark Plug

The Gaels were one of three teams in the conference—Gonzaga and Pacific being the other two—to have six players make the list. Along with Bamberger being named to the team, honorable mentions went to five Gaels: Tayla Dalton, Leia Hanafin, Makena Mastora, Hannah Rapp, and Addison Wedin.

Ali Bamberger has been the Gaels’ starting center the past three seasons and has a perfect 4.0 as a grad student this year in the Kinesiology program. She was fantastic academically as an undergrad as well as an Applied Science major. On the court, she averaged 10.2 points and 4.5 rebounds per game this season, and shot a career-high 47.4% from the field and 34% from downtown for her most efficient season at SMC. She also earned a spot in NCAA annals by shooting over 1,000 points as a Gael, just as her father did at Saint Mary’s.

Tayla Dalton had a 3.842 GPA as a Business Administration major. The Gaels’ “spark plug” averaged 10.3 points per game this season while shooting a career-high 37.5% on threes. She only missed three games this year, and that was to play for Team New Zealand in Olympic Qualifiers. The Auckland native became just the 20th New Zealand-born player to score over 900 points at the Division-1 level in women’s basketball.

Leia Hanafin earned a 3.238 GPA as a Business Administration major. This season she was second in the WCC in steals and steals per game and shot a career-high 34.1% on threes. Her 138 career steals are good for 10th all time in program history.

Makena Mastora had a 3.555 GPA as a Business Administration major as well. She averaged a career-high 7.4 points per game this season and shot a career-best 35.3% from three-point range. She scored a career-high 26 points this December vs. Cal State East Bay.

Fellow Business Administration major Hannah Rapp had a 3.663 GPA. She scored a career-high 19 points this season against North Carolina A&T, and is averaging a personal best 71.4% at the free-throw line.

Addison Wedin had a 3.531 GPA as a Psychology major. She averaged 6.5 points per game in 20 games played with 15 starts, and had scored in double figures in three of her last four games before a season-ending knee injury.

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Men’s Basketball: Three Years Running that Multiple Gaels Earn All-Academic Honors

Redshirt junior guard/forward Luke Barrett and redshirt sophomore guard Chris Howell were both named to the WCC All-Academic Team. This is the first time that both Barrett and Howell have been recognized with this award. But it is the third consecutive year that the Gaels have had multiple student-athletes on the men's basketball All-Academic team. 

Luke Barrett took on the Gaels "sixth man" role this season, appearing in every contest. He averaged 5.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest, and shot 51.7% from the field. Barrett scored a career-high 19 points against Kent State, earning his first ever WCC Player of the Week honors to close out December. In the classroom, Barrett holds a 3.32 GPA as a Communications major.

Chris Howell was another excellent option off the bench for Coach Randy Bennett this season, giving quality minutes at the shooting guard and small forward positions. The San Diego native appeared in all but two games for the Gaels and saw statistical increases in every category from his freshman campaign. Howell dropped a career-high nine points in a career best 23 minutes played at Pepperdine in the game in which the Gaels clinched the WCC Regular Season Title. In the classroom, Howell holds a 3.21 GPA as a Kinesiology major. 

Making the Grades

In order to be named to the WCC All-Academic team, a student-athlete must meet all the following standards:

• A minimum 3.20 cumulative grade point average (GPA) based on the most recently completed term at the time of the nomination.

• Be a starter or important reserve with legitimate athletic credentials.

• Have at least sophomore athletic and academic standing with at least one year in residence completed at the nominating institution.

• Participate in at least 50 percent of the institution's completed contests.

READ MORE: The stories on student-athletes from Women’s Basketball and Men’s Basketball making the WCC All-Academic Teams as they appear at SMCGaels.com

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Tim Fitzgerald is Director of Communications for SMC Athletics. Ryan Barnett is Assistant Athletic Director for Communications.