OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Loyola University Maryland's
Stephanie Karcz was announced Friday as one of 30 women's basketball student-athletes across Division I chosen as a candidate for the 2019-20 Senior CLASS Award.
To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
Karcz is one of three Patriot League student-athletes recognized, joining Camryn Buhr and Hannah Hedstrom from Lehigh. On the court, the Middletown, N.J., native is one of just two active players in Division I with over 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 300 assists and 200 steals.
The Division I leader with 5.7 steals per game this season, Karcz became the 27th player in DI history to reach 400 for her collegiate career in Wednesday's road game at Boston University. She is the DI active leader with 402 thefts, and also ranks 14th in Loyola history in scoring (1,110 points), fourth in rebounding (949) and sixth in assists (351).
Karcz was recognized as the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in 2017-18, and she has received seven postseason awards from the conference overall (3x All-Defensive Team, 2x All-Patriot League, All-Rookie Team). She currently has 25 career double-doubles and the only three triple-doubles in program history.
Off the court, Karcz holds a 3.55 grade-point average while majoring in elementary education. This past fall, she balanced her basketball responsibilities with a full-time internship student teaching at Lakeland Elementary/Middle School in Baltimore. While working at Lakeland, she created a pen pal program between students and Loyola student-athletes, and ran a sweatshirt drive to donate college sweatshirts to Lakeland students. Karcz has assisted at a total of four schools in the Baltimore area during her time at Loyola.
Karcz is also a member of Loyola's Leadership Academy and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. She has participated in several community service initiatives with her teammates, including the Rebuilding Baltimore program, volunteer work for the homeless at Beans and Bread and raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through a Light the Night event.
The Senior CLASS candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in February, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four C's of community, classroom, character and competition.
The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2020 NCAA Women's Final Four this spring. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
