(TUCSON, AZ) On Thursday, the Pac-12 announced that Sam Thomas was named to the Pac-12 All-Academic First Team while Lucia Alonso and Tee Tee Starks were named honorable mention Pac-12 All-Academic.
Thomas, who is in her first year of eligibility for Pac-12 All-Academic, has earned a 4.0 GPA while studying Psychology. She is the first Arizona student-athlete to be named First-Team All-Academic since Alli Gloyd back in 2015.
On the floor, she is Arizona third-leading scorer at 9.5 points per game. She is fifth in the conference in blocks and seventh in steals per game, and is the only player in the Pac-12 to average at least 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks per game. The sophomore has become one of Arizona’s most reliable three-point shooters as she has made at least one in her last 10 games as well as 12 of her last 13.
Alonso, who earned her second Pac-12 All-Academic honor, has a 3.3 GPA while studying Nutritional Sciences. She is Arizona’s all-time leading three-point shooter (40.8%) and has made the third-most treys on the team this season. Earlier this year, she became the 10th player in school history to make 100 threes in an Arizona uniform.
Starks, who is in her first year of eligibility for Pac-12 All-Academic, has a 3.02 GPA while majoring in Criminal Justice Studies. She will graduate this year and will stay for her fifth year of eligibility while going to graduate school. During her sophomore season at Iowa State, she was named to the Academic-All-Big-12 First Team. She has also spent time interning at the University of Arizona Police Department.
The Brooklyn Park, Minn. native has started the last eight games of the season and has been one of Arizona’s most crucial players, especially on the defensive end. She had her best game of the season last week, scoring a career-high 14 points against USC in the Pac-12 Tournament while making a career-high four three-pointers.
Portions of this article courtesy of Arizona Communication Services.