HICKORY, N.C. — Standouts on the court, but more importantly in the classroom, more than half of the members of the Catawba Valley Community College women's basketball team have been honored for their academic successes.

The Red Hawks' Milequa Eason, Ivy Eller, Tazah Hardin, Deja Ross, Iyonna Harris, Aniya Taylor and Danielle Rainey have all been named to the All-Academic Team for Region X — representing just under half of the 15-person team comprised of women's basketball players from the entire 11-team conference.

"We take pride here at CVCC in striving for excellence in everything that we do — in the classroom as well as on the court," said CVCC women's basketball head coach Tisha England, who also serves as Learning Assistance Center Coordinator. "It's going to take the girls making sure that they get their academics done to get to the next level. I stress that a lot — being a student first in student athlete as well as their character and integrity. That goes a long way."

In order to quality for the Region X All-Academic Team, a student must have attained a 3.7 GPA after one semester of academic coursework or a 3.6 GPA with two or more semesters.

Four of the seven Red Hawks chosen to the Region X All-Academic team have 4.0 grade point averages — Eason, Eller, Hardin and Ross.

All seven athletes also made either the President's List (3.75 or higher GPA) or Athletic Director's List (3.74 to 3.2 GPA) last this past fall semester.

"I have some players that truthfully shouldn't have ever been in college, but because they came in, worked hard, believed in the system and believed in me, they have put it all together," England said. "I am so proud of them. I cannot be prouder as a head coach for the work that they have put in."

Below is a look at the complete Region X All-Academic team:

2018-19 Region X All-Academic Team
Cara Bailey, Brunswick
Shai Robinson, Brunswick
Milequa Eason, Catawba Valley
Ivy Eller, Catawba Valley
Tazah Hardin, Catawba Valley
Deja Ross, Catawba Valley
Iyonna Harris, Catawba Valley
Aniya Taylor, Catawba Valley
Danielle Rainey, Catawba Valley
Rayanna Davis, Clinton
Tee Dorsey, Clinton
Tammaria Smith, Lenoir
Faith Stroud, Lenoir
Harmony Davidson, Louisburg
Breelyn Clark, Wake Tech