MSUB’s Visger Garners Academic Honors (February 20, 2003)
BILLINGS, MT – MSU Billings
women’s basketball player Natalie Visger was named to the Verizon Academic
All-District VII Second Team as selected by CoSIDA
on Thursday. Visger, a senior from Gillette,
Wyoming, has posted a cumulative grade point average
of 3.91 while majoring in biology. 
There were 86 student-athletes
nominated for the Verizon Academic All-America Team
from 45 institutions in the district. Five each
were named to the first, second and third teams.
Each school in the district, regardless of whether
it had nominated a student-athlete, could vote for
five players to be on the All-District VII team.
Visger earned second-team honors despite the fact
that she was the only student-athlete from an
independent team and the only student athlete from a
West Region school.
The CoSIDA districts are not
aligned with NCAA regions, thus placing MSU Billings
with Midwest schools even though it competes in the
far West Region. The criteria for the award include
both academic and athletic achievement. In what
speaks volumes of her qualifications, Visger
garnered enough votes to earn second team honors
even though MSU Billings had not competed against
any of the schools that were able to vote for her.
 Visger
is a four-year letter winner who has led the
Yellowjackets to the No. 4 ranking in the West
Region poll this season. If the Lady Jackets remain
in the top eight (they have four games remaining),
they will qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the
second straight year and the third time in Visger’s
four years at the school.
Visger has been the Lady
Yellowjackets’ leader on and off the floor all
season. She is averaging a team-high 15 points and
nine rebounds per game and became just the fifth
Yellowjacket to surpass 1000 career points and 700
career rebounds. She will finish the season as the
15th most prolific scorer in the
program’s history as well as the school’s most
accurate free throw shooter. Visger will graduate
in May with a degree in biology. |
