First Team Academic All-American

Roo basketball guard Eilise O’Connor will attend UMKC School of Dentistry

University of Missouri-Kansas City Women’s Basketball senior guard Eilise O’Connor has been named a Division I First Team Capital One Academic All-American.

O’Connor holds a 3.99 GPA as a Health Sciences major in the School of Nursing and Health Studies and a Chemistry minor in the College of Arts and Sciences. She has been accepted into the UMKC School of Dentistry and plans to attend this fall. The San Francisco native has moved into second place on the UMKC career scoring and assists list. This year she set new Kansas City and WAC records for free throws in a game with 22 at New Mexico State on Jan. 18, as well as records for free throws in a season.

“It’s absolutely humbling to be categorized with the tremendous athletes who make up the Academic All-American teams,” O’Connor said. “They are some of the best and brightest collegiate athletes in the country and I can be nothing but honored to be considered alongside them. Without question, I could not have earned anything without my team, coaches and staff. From our manager to our head coach, all I can say is thank you for supporting me throughout my career on the floor and off.”

Currently, O’Connor leads the WAC in scoring at 21.3 points and free throw percentage at 86.9 percent.  Four times this year she has eclipsed the 30-point mark and three times has notched double-doubles.

O’Connor has been named as a semi-finalist for the Senior CLASS Award and the WBCA Allstate Good Works Team. Last season, she was named to the Division I-AAA Scholar Athlete Team and Summit League Academic All-League, while three times being selected as a member of the Summit League Academic Honor Roll and twice as a member of the Commissioner’s List of Academic Excellence.

O’Connor is just the third Roo to be named First Team Academic All-American, joining Track & Field’s Sonya Ahmed in 2002 and Jon Kelley in 2003. Other Roos who have been named to Academic All-American teams are Softball’s Kaelene Curry (Second Team 2011 and 2012) and Kristen Caldwell (Third Team 2004), Men’s Soccer’s Garret Guthrie (Third Team 2008), Track & Field’s Sara Hiller (Second Team 2008, Third Team 2007 and 2009) and Maggie Brueggeman-Butler (Second Team 2006).

“We couldn’t be more excited for Eilise and the recognition that she continues to receive on a national level,” said UMKC Head Coach Marsha Frese. “Eilise takes tremendous pride in everything she does and strives to be a role model both on and off the basketball court. Hopefully recognition like this will inspire others to never settle in the desire to excel on the court and in the classroom.”

 


Tags: , , .
  • Recent UMKC News

    $20 Million Scholarship Article in The Kansas City Star

    KC Scholars partnership also in U.S. News and World Report … Read more

    Geosciences Professor’s Research Cited in New York Times

    Fengpeng Sun co-authored study on California wildfire seasons The 2015 … Read more

    Bloch Faculty Interviewed on NBC Nightly News

    Brent Never teaches about Kansas City’s racial dividing line Never … Read more

    More