Sports

Alaska basketball stars Buchanan, Klie earn academic honors

A pair of college basketball players from Alaska were honored Thursday for having game – on the court and in the classroom.

UAA's Jenna Buchanan of Galena and UC San Diego's Adam Klie of Anchorage were named to all-district academic teams. Both were first-team selections, putting them in the running for All-America academic honors.

Buchanan, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, was one of five women named to the District 8 team, which covers three conferences – the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, the Pac West Conference and the California Collegiate Athletic Association.

The second-leading scorer for the top-ranked UAA women, Buchanan is an early childhood education major with a 3.64 grade-point average.

She averages 13.4 points per game and is one of the nation's top 3-point shooters, ranking ninth in 3-point percentage (47.2) and 12th in 3-pointers per game (3.2). Her career 3-pointer shooting percentage of 42.4 ranks her second nationally among all active Division II players.

Klie, a 6-4 junior guard who starred at Service High, holds a 4.0 GPA as a bioengineering major at Revelle College, which is part of UC San Diego. He's averaging 14.0 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists for the sixth-ranked Tritons.

This is the second straight season Klie has earned all-academic District 8 honors.

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