Why does Ms. Connors say she can't join the team?

Melinda cannot join the team because of her grades. She is disqualified because of academics.

It is a sad and downtrodden Ms. Connors who meets me three hours later. She holds my current grades by two fingers: D, C, B-, D, C-, C, A. No basketball team for me, because the A was in art, so my GPA is a whopping 1.7.