St. LOUIS -- Missouri State's Liza Fruendt was recognized Tuesday (March 6) for her work in the classroom and on the court, earning a spot on the five-player MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team in women's basketball for the second consecutive season.

Now the sixth Lady Bear to be earn MVC Scholar-Athlete three times after a second team selection in 2016, Fruendt owns a 3.73 cumulative grade point average as an administrative management major and will graduate in May. She has started all 29 Missouri State games this season and averages an MVC-high 16.2 points to go along with 4.1 rebounds and 1.7 assists.

The senior guard from Batavia, Ill., has scored in double figures 22 times this year, eclipsing 20 points on nine occasions with a pair of 30-point efforts. Fruendt ranks second in the MVC with 63 3-pointers, and has multiple treys in 16 games. She scored at least 29 points in consecutive games on Jan. 19 and 21, the first MSU player to do that since Jackie Stiles in 2001, and ranks ninth in school history with 1,620 career points.

The criteria for the MVC's Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Capital One Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with at least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average (4.0 scale). Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were not eligible), must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution and must have played in 75 percent of their team's games.

The Lady Bears (19-10, 15-3) are the No. 2 seed at this week's MVC Tournament in Moline, Ill., and open play on Friday at 6 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's game between No. 7 Bradley and 10th-seeded Evansville.