Filiere Repeats on CoSIDA Academic All-District Team

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Carnegie Mellon University junior Makayla Filiere (Chandler, Ariz./Hamilton) has been named to the CoSIDA Google Cloud Academic All-District Women's Basketball Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for the second time. As a sophomore last season, Filiere was the only second-year athlete honored out of six players on the District 4 team and one of six sophomores to be honored in Division III. This year, Filiere is one of five on the District 4 team and the only University Athletic Association (UAA) player across all districts to receive the award. To be nominated for the award, a student-athlete must be a starter or significant reserve and maintain a GPA of 3.3 or better.

Carnegie Mellon is part of District 4 which is comprised of all Division III schools in the state of Pennsylvania. Filiere will now move on to the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration.

Filiere is a three-year starter for the Tartans and currently leads the team in scoring with 10.4 points per game and steals with 2.8 a game. Her steals per game average ranks first in the UAA. Filiere scored in double digits 13 times this season with a season-best 23 points in a 67-58 win on the road against Brandeis University. The junior needs 33 points to become the 13th player in Tartan history to score 1,000 career points.

The junior carries a 3.92 GPA in the classroom while majoring in business and statistics with a concentration in business analytics. When not in class or on the court, Filiere volunteers her time at local food banks, at Animal Friends, and in the surrounding community. She was elected to Lambda Sigma in 2017 and performs at least 15 hours of community service per semester. The junior guard also serves on the planning committee for the Western PA Special Olympics held on campus and is a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council. Additionally, Filiere took on the role of Resident Advisor (RA) this fall and serves as a resource for freshmen providing personal and academic support in Donner House. In spring 2018, Filiere was a site leader for CMU's 1000Plus Day of Service, leading a group of 50 students into the Pittsburgh community.

Filiere spent last summer studying abroad in Sydney, Australia, and was an operations intern for Sydney BlueSox professional baseball team. She's already lined up an operations internship with Converse in Boston for the upcoming summer.

Previously, Filiere held internships with Never Fear Being Different and The Nest Collective Yoga. She was also a camp counselor and academy teacher at Lifetime Fitness. Prior to enrolling at Carnegie Mellon, Filiere started her own business called Baking the World a Better Place where she baked cookies and bread, donating the proceeds to Feed My Starving Children over a four-year period. Through this, she provided more than 25,000 meals for children in third-world countries.

Filiere and the rest of the Tartans (12-12) will conclude their season on Saturday, February 23 at Case Western Reserve University at 2:00 p.m.