Rishonda Napier named Second-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete
03/10/2015 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
By Tyler Wooten
SIUSalukis.com
ST. LOUIS -- Saluki redshirt sophomore Rishonda Napier has been named a Second-Team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete for the 2014-15 season, the MVC announced Tuesday.
The criteria for the scholar-athlete team balloting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, have played at least 75-percent of a team's games, and must carry at least a 3.20 GPA (on a 4.0 scale). Student-athletes must also have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true and redshirt freshmen are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at the institution. A total of 25 Valley student-athletes met the nomination criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2015.
Napier, a native of Burbank Calif. who holds a 3.40 GPA in economics, is currently in the middle of her most prolific season at Southern to date. She leads SIU in scoring at 16.5 points per game, the third-best in the Valley this season. She also ranks fourth in the MVC at 3.5 assists per game and has the Valley's top free throw percentage at .870 -- the 18th-best percentage from the charity stripe in the NCAA this season. She most recently became the 31st Saluki to ever score 800 career points, giving Southern's roster three active 800 point scorers.
With the honor, Napier becomes the first Saluki to earn higher than Honorable Mention Scholar-Athlete since 2008-09 when Erica Smith was named a Second-Team member.
SIU is the No. 5 seed in the MVC Women's Basketball Tournament this weekend at Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., where it will play No. 4 UNI at 2:30 p.m. on Friday. All games this weekend will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
First-Team MVC Scholar-Athletes
Brooke Brown, UNI
Caitlin Ingle, Drake
Kelsey Jacobs, Wichita State
Madison Weekly, UNI
Kenzie Williams, Missouri State
Michelle Young, Bradley
Second-Team MVC Scholar-Athletes
Allie Decker, Wichita State
Liza Heap, Drake
Mallory Ladd, Evansville
Rishonda Napier, Southern Illinois
Katy Winge, Illinois State
Honorable Mention MVC Scholar-Athletes
Stephanie Davison, UNI
Khristian Hart, Evansville
Alyssa Johnson, UNI
Whitney Tinjum, Bradley
