The Missouri State Lady Bears placed two members on the 2008 Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete teams, released Tuesday by the conference office. Senior co-captains Tahnee Balerio and Tiff Terwelp each received honorable mention for the league’s all-academic squad, as voted by MVC sports information directors.
Balerio holds a 3.77 grade-point average and receive her degree in entertainment management in December. The Buhler, Kan., product led the conference with 5.3 assists per game average during MVC play and ranked sixth in the league with a 14.7 ppg. scoring average in MSU’s 18 conference games this season. She has led the Lady Bears in assists in 24 of 29 contests and became the 19th player in school history to top the 1,000 career point mark earlier this season.
A 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District VII honoree, this marks the third year in-a-row Balerio has received postseason recognition on the Valley’s all-academic team.
Terwelp has a 3.72 GPA in early childhood education and will also complete her degree in December. The 6-2 forward has saved her best basketball for the stretch run of her senior season, averaging 12.7 points and 10.6 rebounds per outing in MVC play. A native of Quincy, Ill., Terwelp has turned in a Valley-high 12 point-rebound double-doubles this year. She enters this week’s State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament needing only 16 points to join MSU’s 1,000-point club and will likely end her career as the Lady Bears’ fifth-leading rebounder. This marks the second consecutive MVC Scholar-Athlete honor for Terwelp after picking up second-team recognition a year ago.
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 3.00 GPA (on a 4.0 scale). Student-athletes must also have completed at least one full academic year at their present institution.
A total of 37 Valley women’s basketball student-athletes met the criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2008. Drake senior guard Lindsay Whorton was selected MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and was joined on the first team by her teammate Jill Martin, as well as Laura Rudolphi of Indiana State, Rebekah Parker of Evansville and Kristi Cirone of Illinois State.
Second-team honors went to Creighton’s Sara Cain and Ally Thrall, Evansville’s Shannon Novosel, Indiana State’s Kelsey Luna and Illinois State’s Maggie Krick.
