Orono, Maine -- On June 27, the NCAA announced that former University of Maine women's basketball student-athlete, and graduate of the Class of 2017, has been nominated for the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year award.

According to the NCAA, the Woman of the Year award was established in 1991 and is now in its 27th year. The NCAA Woman of the Year award honors graduating female college athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in academics, athletics, service and leadership throughout their collegiate careers.

Koizar, who was also a nominee for the America East Woman of the Year, ended her career at UMaine as one of the most decorated Black Bears, both academically and athletically, in the history. A three-time America East All-Conference first team selection, Koizar finished her career ranked sixth on Maine's all-time scoring list (1,671), tallying double-digit scoring performances in 80 of her 130 career games. Academically, Koizar was a two-time 'M' Club Dean Smith Award recipient, an honor presented annually to the top male and female student-athletes at UMaine with outstanding academic and athletic achievement along with citizenship and community service. Highlighting her numerous academic honors is two CoSIDA Academic All-American distinctions, three America East All-Academic team selections, eight selections to the Dean's List and seven Presidential Scholar honors.

The NCAA Woman of the Year school nominees represent all three NCAA divisions, with 229 from Division I, 117 from Division II and 197 from Division III. A total of 13 nominees represent the America East conference.

Next, conferences will select up to two conference nominees each from the pool of school nominees. The Woman of the Year selection committee, made up of representatives from the NCAA membership, will then choose the top 30 honorees -- 10 from each division.

From the top 30, the selection committee determines the top three honorees from each division and announces the nine finalists in September. The NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics then chooses the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year from those nine.

The top 30 honorees will be recognized and the 2017 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced at the annual award ceremony Oct. 22 in Indianapolis.

-UMaine-