Indiana State University Athletics

ST. LOUIS – Indiana State sophomore guard Ashli O'Neal was honored by the Missouri Valley Conference Tuesday as she was named to the league's Scholar-Athlete Second Team.
 
O'Neal leads the Sycamores this year and ranks eighth in The Valley with an average of 12.2 points per game, scoring in double figures in the last 11 consecutive games of the regular season. Her .843 free throw percentage rate this year ranks 44^th in the nation and third in the league while her 1.3 steals per game ranks seventh in The Valley.
 
A biology major with a 3.71 grade point average, O'Neal is one of 20 Indiana State women's basketball student-athletes to get honored for both on-court achievements and academic accolades by receiving an MVC Scholar-Athlete Award. In all, the Sycamores have racked up 34 different honors (first team, second team, honorable mention) and this marks the third consecutive year a Sycamore has received at least a second team honor.
 
Voting for the 2018 MVC Scholar-Athlete Team was conducted by league's sports information directors.
 
The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference's Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for 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) and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution.  He must have played in 75 percent of his team's games.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Women's Basketball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
 

Scholar-Athlete First Team	Year	GPA	Major
Dani Franklin, Valparaiso	Senior	3.57	Elementary Education
Liza Fruendt, Missouri State*#	Senior	3.73	Administrative Management
Kylie Giebelhausen, Southern Illinois&+	Senior	3.81	Exercise Science
Becca Hittner, Drake	Sophomore	3.96	Marketing
Sara Rhine, Drake	Sophomore	4.00	Elementary Education
*2017 First Team; &2017 Second Team; #2016 Second Team; +2016 Honorable Mention
Scholar-Athlete Second Team	Year	GPA	Major
Maddy Dean, Drake	Junior	3.52	Actuarial Science and Finance
Ellie Howell, UNI&	Junior	4.00	MBA Graduate Program
Kennedy Kirkpatrick, UNI	Senior	3.83	MBA Graduate Program
Hannah Noe, Evansville	Graduate	4.00	Health Services Administration
Ashli O'Neal, Indiana State	Sophomore	3.71	Biology
&2017 Second Team
Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention	Year	GPA	Major
Sammie Bachrodt, Drake	Junior	3.50	Finance
Jessica Cerda, Loyola	Graduate	3.67	Social Work
Meredith Hamlet, Valparaiso	Junior	3.50	Public Relations
Becca Jonas, Drake	Junior	3.93	Digital Media Production
Katie Salmon, Loyola^	Senior	3.88	Statistics
Anneke Schlueter, Bradley	Senior	3.57	International Studies
^2017 Honorable Mention