Milligan College, Tenn. (March 17, 2010) --- Milligan College's Heather Mandela (Fairfax, Va.) earned national recognition this past week by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) for her performance in the classroom and on the court.
Mandela, a junior center on the women's basketball team, was named an All-American honorable mention selection, notching her second consecutive year for this honor. Mandela was also selected as a 2010 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athlete which is awarded to student-athletes who have reached junior status and have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
"Heather has been a model of excellence on and off the basketball court," commented Head Coach Rich Aubrey. "She understands the value of hard work, and she applies herself as a student and as an athlete. We are very pleased that she has received these honors."
Among her AAC rivals, Mandela led the league in total rebounds with 10.58 boards per game, and was ranked second in scoring (17.16 PPG) behind Union's All-American selection Brooke Smith. Mandela was also ranked second in the AAC in blocks with 1.55 per game and fourth in field goal percentage with a shooting mark of .480. For the year, Mandela tallied a career high 20 double doubles.
Nationally, Mandela ended the season with a total of nine rankings inside the Top 50, including three in the Top 15 marks. Mandela concludes the year ranked sixth in defensive rebounds per game (8.226), eighth in total rebounds (328) and 11th in total rebounds per game (10.581).
Mandela and the Lady Buffs finished the season with a 20-12 overall record and a league best 11-5 AAC mark, as they were crowned the AAC regular season co- champions. From this year's squad, the Lady Buffs will graduate two athletes, in Brit White (Chuckey, Tenn.) and Brittany Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.).
