ST. LOUIS – Three members of the Southern Illinois University women’s basketball team were recognized on Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Teams, the conference announced Tuesday. Makenzie Silvey was named to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team for the third-straight season while Abby Brockmeyer also earned a spot on the First Team. Gabby Walker claimed Scholar-Athlete Second Team honors.
Silvey holds a 3.75 GPA as a Master’s of Business Administration student. She earned her fourth-straight Scholar-Athlete team honor after she finished third in the conference in scoring (15.9 points per game) and first in minutes played (35.1 minutes per game). She has scored in double figures in 24 of of Southern’s 28 games, which includes eight 20-plus point games. Silvey also set new career highs in both rebounds and assists; she is tied for seventh in the conference in assists per game (3.3). Silvey became SIU’s all-time leading scorer on Jan. 22 against Bradley and currently sits 34 points away from reaching the 2,000 point plateau. Silvey was named MVC Player of the Week twice this season.
Brockmeyer holds a 3.857 GPA as an Accounting Master’s student. She also earned her fourth-straight Scholar-Athlete team honor. The Raymond, Ill. native finished the regular season first in the MVC in rebounds (10.3 per game), first in double-doubles (14) and second in scoring (16.4 points per game). Brockmeyer notched a double-double in half of Southern’s games this season, and is the only MVC player averaging a double-double per game. Brockmeyer headlined the NCAA Starting 5 on Dec. 5 after averaging 25.5 points and 17 rebounds per game at the Compass Challenge against Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois. Brockmeyer was also named MVC Player of the Week twice this season.
Walker’s nod on the MVC Scholar-Athlete Second Team is the first of her career. She holds a 3.5 GPA as a Biochemistry Master’s student. The St. Charles, Mo. native has had a career year for the Salukis, as she has scored in double figures in 21 games this season and averaged 12.3 points per game. Walker also achieved her highest rebounding average as a Saluki (6.1 per game), and notched three double-doubles this season. Walker scored a season-high 20 points against UNI on Jan. 15. Walker’s 50.9% field goal percentage is good for fifth in the conference.
Southern’s three honorees on the First and Second teams are the most of any Valley school. SIU has had at least one MVC Scholar-Athlete honoree in each of head coach Cindy Stein‘s nine seasons as head coach and have had 21 earn MVC Scholar-Athlete honors during her tenure. It marks the sixth time in the last seven seasons that the Salukis have placed three on MVC Scholar-Athlete teams.
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).
SIU is back in action on Friday, March 11 at 12 p.m. at Hoops in the Heartland against the winner of Indiana State and Evansville, who play each other on Thursday.