Wa-Hi grad on short list of Academic All-Americans at University of Idaho

Mikayla Ferenz has long been dominant on the basketball court, but her exploits in the classroom have been perhaps even more bountiful.

The 2015 graduate of Walla Walla High School was named to the CoSIDA Women’s Basketball Academic All-America first team on Monday, becoming just the second University of Idaho female athlete to earn the distinction.

Ferenz, a junior guard for the 19-13 Vandals, is majoring in actuarial science and finance and has a 4.0 GPA. She joins track and field athlete Hannah Kiser (2014) as the only Vandal women to be named first team Academic All-Americans.

A two-time first team All-Big Sky Conference pick, Ferenz is enjoying one of the most prolific seasons in school history. She’s tied for seventh in the nation in scoring at 22.6 points per game (a spot ahead of former Chiawana and current Eastern Washington hooper Delaney Hodgins, who was named to the Academic All-America third team), and leads the Vandals in assists at 4.4 a night. She’s also averaging 6.5 rebounds and is hitting 40.7 percent of her 3-point attempts.

Idaho is coming off a 91-69 loss to top-seeded Northern Colorado on Saturday in the Big Sky championship game, but has already clinched a spot in the WNIT. The opponent, time and location for the Vandals opening game of the tournament were announced later Monday.

“I’m excited that I have another year because this experience is priceless,” Ferenz said in a news release after conference championship game. “I think it will help us down the road. We are a young team. This will help down the road and hopefully next year we can come out with a championship.”

This story was originally published March 12, 2018 at 3:13 PM with the headline "Wa-Hi grad on short list of Academic All-Americans at University of Idaho."