Milne Receives NCAA Scholarship (July 28, 2005)

BILLINGS, MT – The NCAA announced this week that former Montana State-Billings women’s basketball player Robyn Milne has been awarded one of its 91 degree completion awards for 2005-2006.  Milne completed her eligibility last spring after playing four seasons for the Yellowjackets.  She has finished all of her classes for a degree in English Education and needs only to student teach in the fall to graduate.  She is scheduled to student teach at Castle Rock Middle School in the Billings Heights.

The Division II Degree-Completion Award Program was founded in 2001, when 32 awards were distributed in 2001-02.  The program provides financial assistance to deserving student-athletes for the completion of their first baccalaureate degree.  To receive the award, students must have completed their athletics eligibility and received financial aid for athletics.  Recipients must have solid academic credentials.  The committee also considers financial circumstances, athletics achievement and involvement in campus and community activities when making its funding decisions.  The funding—matching the student-athlete’s scholarship during her senior season—must be used to complete undergraduate degree requirements at the Division II institution where the applicant last competed.

Milne was named the team’s Most Valuable Player as a junior and as a senior.  The senior center from Richey, Mont., was second on the team in scoring at 12.9 points per game.  She led the team in rebounding (10.4 rpg), assists (3.2 apg) and blocked shots (3.7 bpg). 

Milne’s 104 blocked shots set a new single season school record.  She also set school career records for rebounds (957) and blocked shots (278).  Milne’s 1,066 points rank her sixteenth in school history, and she is just the second player in school history with over 1,000 points and 900 rebounds.  Milne was ranked nationally in two individual statistical categories.  She was sixth in NCAA II for blocked shots per game and 25th for rebounding average. 

Milne received a number of awards in her senior season, including her second team MVP honor.  For the second straight year she was named to the All-West Region second team.  She was also named to the NCAA Division II Independent First Team and was the NCAA Division II Independent Defensive Player of the Year.  Accomplished on and off the court, Milne was a CoSIDA Academic District VII First Team selection and was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Third Team.

One of Milne’s most prestigious awards of the year came when she was announced as one of the University’s two Outstanding Seniors for 2005.  Milne finished her coursework with a 3.91 GPA.  She was involved in Sigma Tau Delta and the English Honor Society and worked as a teaching assistant for English 150 classes.  Milne also worked as a coach at the Billings Bees Basketball Camp and read to children in various schools as part of outreach done by the women's basketball program.

A complete list of NCAA degree completion recipients can be found at http://www1.ncaa.org/membership/scholarships/degree-completion/d2/2005_Recipients.