Justine Raterman Lowe's Senior CLASS Page | Vote on Facebook | Vote on the Lowe's Senior CLASS Page

OVERLAND PARK, KS – University of Dayton’s Justine Raterman was one of 10 NCAA® women’s basketball student-athletes, who excel both on and off the court, selected as a finalist for the 2011-12 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

Fan voting will be available at www.seniorCLASSaward.com and via the Senior CLASS Award Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LowesSeniorCLASSAward.  Fans will be able to vote online through March 18th.

To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. The complete list of finalists follows this release.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe’s 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.

Raterman leads the Flyers in scoring and rebounding this season and is in the top 10 of several career categories. She has led UD in scoring every year and led the Flyers to the postseason in each of her three previous seasons.

The finalists were chosen by a media committee from the list of 60 candidates announced in November. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to determine the winner. Fans are encouraged to vote on either the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award website or the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award Facebook fan page through March 18. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I men’s and women’s basketball head coaches’ votes to determine the winner.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the men’s Senior CLASS Award® winner during the 2012 NCAA Men’s Final Four®, which will be held March 31 and April 2 in New Orleans. The women’s award winner will be announced during the NCAA Women’s Final Four®, which will be held April 1 and 3 in Denver.

UD women's soccer player Kathleen Beljan was also named a Top 10 finalist for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award this year.