WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The Collegiate Sports Communicators (CSC) released its Women's Basketball Academic All-District squad this afternoon, and the West Chester University women's basketball team had a pair of players honored as Leah Johnson (Columbus, N.J./Notre Dame) and Emily McAteer (Thornton, Pa./Garnet Valley) each earned All-District honors.

In order to be eligible for this award, student-athletes must possess at least a 3.50 GPA and have played in 90 % of the institution's games played.  

Academic All-District® honorees are considered for advancement to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second-, and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced in April.

The Division II and III CSC Academic All-America® programs are partially financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures to assist CSC with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2023-24 Divisions II and III Academic All-America® programs.

This is just the latest honor in an impressive string of awards for Johnson and McAteer as the duo repeated as First Team All-PSAC East selections, while also both earning Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA) All-Region honors. Additionally, Johnson, the PSAC East Player of the Year, earned Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Honorable Mention All- American honors earlier this month.

This marks the first time in program history that West Chester has had multiple honorees on the CSC Academic All-District team as McAteer joins Johnson and head coach Kiera (Manlove) Wooden on the exclusive list.

Johnson rewrote the record books during her tenure on University Avenue, breaking the program's career scoring (1,777 points), field goals made (686), field goals attempted (1,781) assists (620), and triple-double (3) records while also turning in an unforgettable 44-point effort in the 2023 NCAA Tournament vs California (Pa.) that led to her breaking the single-game scoring mark. The graduate student guard also finished her career second in team history in rebounds by a guard (703), steals (284), and free throw percentage (83.8 %).

In 2023-24, Johnson appeared in all 31 games with 30 starts, averaging 15.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.9 assists per game. The veteran guard became the first Golden Ram in team history and the first DII player since 2021-22 to record a triple-double in back-to-back games vs. Mansfield and Millersville earlier this season at home and ranks in a tie for first in Division II in triple-doubles with two on the year. After ending the regular season as the PSAC leader in 2023-24 in both steals and assists, the Columbus, New Jersey native finished her final season wearing the Purple and Gold, ranked seventh in Division II in assists per game. Johnson earned PSAC East Athlete of the Week honors for three straight weeks earlier this season as she turned in an incredible stretch of basketball, which saw her break the career assist record on January 13 vs. ESU, turn in back-to-back triple-doubles on January 27, and 29 vs. Mansfield and Millersville, and break the career scoring record on February 7 at Shepherd.

McAteer turned in a season for the ages as well, leading the team and ranking second in the PSAC in scoring, averaging 17.5 points per game to help engineer the top offensive unit in the PSAC East. This incredible scoring performance, which has seen the forward average north of 21.0 points per game in PSAC East play, leading the team in scoring in 12 of 16 games, helped her score not only her 1000^th collegiate point earlier this season but also score her 1000^th point as a Golden Ram during the team's senior day victory over Bloomsburg. McAteer has scored in double figures 23 times this season, including a team-best 14 20+-point performances, leading the team in 17 of 28 regular-season games and the PSAC Semifinals vs Gannon. These efforts helped her score 542 points in her final season wearing the Purple and Gold, which is the second most in single-season team history. The veteran forward also averaged 7.0 rebounds per game, which is second on the team, trailing only Kozicki, and has five double-doubles to her credit on the season. McAteer also ended the regular season with 19 blocked shots, which is first on the team.  Despite her traditional role being that of an inside presence, McAteer also leads the team in made threes this season, connecting from distance 36 times in the regular season while also leading the team in field goal percentage at 52.7 % on the year.