CLEVELAND, OHIO. – The Western Michigan women's basketball team placed five on the Academic All-Mid-American Conference team, as redshirt senior Marley Hill, senior Najee Smith, junior Meredith Miller and sophomores Kamrin Reed and Emma VanZanten earned the award.

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The Academic All-MAC honor is for a student-athlete who has excelled in athletics and academics. To qualify, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport.

A total of 61 student-athletes were named to the team from this past season. Bowling Green, Miami and Northern Illinois all placed eight student-athletes on the 2017-18 team, while Buffalo followed behind with seven honorees. The five Broncos to earn the award is the most in one year under WMU head coach Shane Clipfell.

Hill was one of two Broncos to have appeared in all 33 games with 32 starts where she finished third on the team in scoring with 9.8 ppg and fourth in rebounds on 4.5 rpg, shooting 44.8 from the floor. The redshirt senior scored her 1,000^th career point in win over Detroit Mercy and poured in a career-high 27 points against Akron. Hill also notched 14 double digit scoring games with three 20+ point games this season and had two double-doubles. Hill finished 11th in the league in blocks with 26 this season highlighted by a career-high six in victory at Kent State.

Smith played in 29 games making 17 starts, including the final 16 for the Western Michigan women's basketball team. She averaged 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 0.8 steals at the guard spot. Smith was second on the team from behind the arc, shooting 38.2 percent and poured in a total of 40 three-pointers. The senior also finished seventh in the MAC for three-point field goal percentage and tied for 15th in the league for three-point field goals made. She recorded five double-digit scoring games highlighted by a career-high 14 points in the WMU upset over Ball State in the MAC Quarterfinals where she went 4-for-6 from three-point territory.

Miller, the versatile forward, earns her second consecutive honor after appearing in 28 games for the Broncos and was third on the team with three-points made (25) all while shooting an impressive .412 (25-fof-59) from behind the arc. She finished the season averaging 3.7 points and 2.3 rebounds and shot 41.2 percent from the floor through 28 games. Miller nearly missed out on her first career double-double against Olivet where she grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds and notched eight points. She also had two double digit scoring games, including a season-high 11 points at Eastern Michigan.

Reed played in 24 games for the Brown & Gold and averaged 2.4 points, 0.5 rebounds and 0.3 assists. She scored a season-high nine points on 3-of-4 shooting in 22 minutes versus East Tennessee State at the Florida Gulf Coast Tournament.

VanZanten appeared in 28 at the low post for the WMU this year, averaging 2.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 blocks. She also finished third on the team in blocks with 17 total. The sophomore was just one rebound shy of missing out on her first career double-double against Kentucky State with a career-high 10 points and nine rebounds. She posted two double digit scoring games this season, including another 10-point game in MAC Semifinals against two-seeded Buffalo.