INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Lincoln Memorial University senior Megan Pittman has been named to the 2016-17 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) District 3 Academic All-Region Team, officials announced Thursday, Feb. 9. She is one of 40 players selected nationally from the NCAA Division II, with five players being selected from each of eight regions.

The Liberty, Ky., native joins fellow South Atlantic Conference players McKell Oliverio (Queens) and Bri Johnson (Catawba) on the team, which also includes Young Harris' Briana Bell and Columbus State's Ashley Asouzu. According to available records, Pittman is the first women's basketball player in program history to be named to the Academic All-Region Team. Pittman, who earned a Biology/Pre-Medicine degree from LMU and is in graduate school, currently leads the team in scoring and rebounding with an average of 16.3 points and 10.4 rebounds a game. She leads the SAC in made free throws and offensive rebounds and is ranked in the top ten in ten other categories, including points and rebounds. Pittman is currently ranked in 14 categories in the NCAA statistical rankings. Her 30 double-doubles are two shy of the school record of 32 and she enters Saturday's game at Newberry needing only six points to become the 18th player to score 1,000 or more points in the history of LMU women's basketball. Pittman is becoming no stranger to accolades this season as she has been featured in articles on the NCAA.com and American Sports Network websites in the past few weeks as well as being named the AstroTurf SAC Player of the Week three times this season. CoSIDA began the distinguished Academic All-America program in 1952, and since then, has honored thousands of deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America scholar-athlete honors. The Academic All-District teams include student-athletes divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the sixth year of the expanded Academic All-America program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools. The Division II and III Academic All-America program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2016-17 DII and DIII Academic All-America teams program. First Team Academic All-District honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected later this month. LMU has only had six players ever named to the Academic All-America team, with the most recent being baseball's Logan Augustine last year.