The UMBC women's basketball team's trio of juniors - Michelle Kurowski, Erin Brown and Topé Obajolu - are the Retrievers' three leading scorers this season and have accounted for nearly 70 percent of the team's offensive output. But each took different roads to the top.

Collegiate student-athletes must deal with a challenge that most other college students do not have to face: balancing the rigors of their classes and schoolwork with the demands of their practice, workout and competition schedule. In order to excel in their sport, many student-athletes struggle to maintain the same intensity in the classroom. But there are some who thrive in both areas and truly embody the full meaning of the student-athlete. The UMBC women’s basketball team is made up of 13 such people.

UMBC guard Carlee Cassidy splashed onto the scene as a freshman with a big performance in the 2007 America East Championship game, and she went on to lead the league in scoring in back-to-back seasons as a sophomore and junior. Now, with just weeks left in her UMBC career and her name all over the Retriever record book, Cassidy takes a few minutes to look back over the last four years.

UMBC juniors Kristin Drabyn, Morgan Hatten and Amanda Robinson have become regulars in the Retrievers’ starting lineup and are best friends off the court. The trio spent last spring break volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans, helping with the Hurricane Katrina relief effort.

Most college students can only dream of a 3.99 grade-point average. But for UMBC senior Erin Voss, a captain on the women’s basketball team, that GPA is a reality.