Feb. 11, 2015

MVC Release

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Missouri State senior Rebecca McPherson has been named this week's Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week, the league office announced on Wednesday (Feb. 11). The honor is McPherson's first weekly award.

McPherson began the season by hitting safely in each of the five games over the weekend at the Louisiana Tech Invitational. She extends her overall hitting streak to eight games, the longest current active streak on the team. During the eight-game hitting streak, she has hit half of her six career home runs.

Through five games, she leads the Bears in hits (7), runs scored (4), total bases (14) and slugging percentage (1.000). McPherson began the season with a two-hit performance against Abilene Christian that included an RBI double. In the night cap, she hit the Bears' first home run of the season, part of a school-record tying four home run game for MSU. Then on Saturday, she began the day with an RBI single against UAPB and hit her second home run of the season versus SIUE later in the day. She concluded her weekend with another hit against LA Tech, drew a walk, was hit by a pitch and scored a run.

Her two home runs on the weekend tied her career high for a season, set in her sophomore year of 2013. McPherson also had a perfect fielding percentage on the weekend including a nice sliding catch in foul territory.

To qualify for Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week laurels, student-athletes must carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.20, completed at least one academic year at a Valley institution and must be at least a sophomore in academic standing. McPherson holds a cumulative 3.86 grade point average and is an exercise and movement science major at MSU.

Missouri State (4-1) will travel to College Station, Texas, for five games at the Texas A&M Aggie Classic beginning on Friday at 10:00 a.m. against Eastern Michigan (0-0). MSU will play the Eagles and Penn State (3-2) twice each before closing the weekend against the host #22/23 Aggies (3-2) on Sunday at 12:15 p.m.

#MSUBears