Now the Carroll College women's basketball team can say they aren't just one of the top 10 teams in the nation athletically, but also academically.

The Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) announced its winners for the 2007-08 Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll Monday and the Saints made their way onto the list, filling out the No. 9 spot with an average GPA of 3.54.

The Saints, who finished last season 27-6 and made it to the NAIA Division I national tournament's "Elite Eight," are one of only two teams that were top 10 on both the list and in the tournament bracket. Only Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), who came in on the list just below Carroll at No. 10, was a Division I school to also make it to the quarterfinal round.

The list is comprised of both Division I and Division II schools. Division II's Concordia University-Nebraska had the highest grade with 3.667.

"This is a great honor for our program to be in the top ten academically in all NAIA divisions," said Carroll head coach Shawn Nelson. "It just says a lot for their overall focus. They get the big picture that they're there for school first, then to play basketball."

Nelson said that at least five girls that were on the roster and eligible to play had 4.0 averages. Meanwhile, others who are red-shirting also had the top scores.

The Saints weren't the only Frontier Conference team to be on the list of 25. Westminster College (No. 2), Lewis-Clark State College (No. 14), University of Montana-Western (No. 18) and Montana State University-Northern (No. 20) all made the list.

Of course, Nelson said, having smart girls makes for a stronger team.

"What we run offensively and defensively is pretty complex and hard to pick up. You have to have smart players, and so what they do in the classroom helps out what we do on the court," Nelson said. "They're smart girls and they pick up things really fast."