ST. LOUIS -- Junior guard Kelsey Luna has been named the Prairie Farms Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year as announced earlier today (March 10) by the league office. Additionally, Luna headlines a group of the league's top student-athletes named to the 2009 MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team, as voted by the league's Sports Information Directors.

"Another outstanding tribute for a tremendous student-athlete," Wiedie said. "Kelsey Luna is a coach's dream. She not only takes care of all her business in a perfect fashion off the court, she is a tremendous athlete and a great leader for our program. We take great pride in both our academic and athletic success within the program. To have four different student-athletes take this honor in just the eight years this award has existed is a tremendous statement about not only the type player but also the type of person that we recruit."

Luna, whose season ended on February 12 due to an ACL injury, paced the Sycamores with a 14.5 ppg scoring average, which was third-best in the MVC. She ranked in the nation's top five for most of the season with her 3.0 3-pointers made per game and her 42.3 shooting percentage from long range was second in the MVC and top 15 in the nation for most of the season. She also ranks in the Valley's top 10 for free throw percentage, steals and minutes played per game.

By virtue of Luna being recognized by the Valley as its top scholar-athlete, she is the fourth Sycamore in the eight-year history of the Prairie Farms MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award to take the plaudit. Kourtney Mennen took the honor in 2003; Melanie Boeglin earned it 2006 and Laura Rudolphi made it back-to-back for the Sycamores in 2007.

Earlier this season, Luna took home ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American Second Team honors to extend Indiana State's streak of consecutive years of having at least one Academic All-American to four. Melanie Boeglin was a first team honoree in 2006; Laura Rudolphi was a third team selection in 2007 and Rudolphi took first team plaudits in 2008.

Luna also earned an ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-District mention earlier this winter. As a sophomore, Luna was a second team selection on both the academic all-district and academic all-conference lists.

Joining Luna on the first team are Evansville teammates Ashley Austin and Shannon Novosel, Illinois State's Kristi Cirone and fellow Academic All-American Marcy Sudbeck of Wichita State.

Second team selections include Bradley's Jenny Van Kirk, Megan Neuvirth and Kelsey Woodard of Creighton, Illinois State's Maggie Krick and Southern Illinois' Erica Smith.

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 reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true and redshirt freshmen are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at the institution.

A total of 28 Valley student-athletes met the nomination criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2009.