MVC Release
ST. LOUIS – Illinois State women's basketball standout Taylor Stewart was named a 2017 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention, it was announced Tuesday morning by the league.
Northern Iowa's Madison Weekly was selected as the Enterprise Bank & Trust Scholar-Athlete of the Year, headlining a group of five of the league's top players named to the first team, as voted by the conference's women's basketball contacts. In all, 15 players were honored on the scholar-athlete teams.
Stewart, who is set to graduate in May, has a 3.42 grade-point average in psychology and is a member of the AFNI Honor Roll at Illinois State. She was one of 60 women's basketball student-athletes selected from across the nation to participate in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's 15th annual "So You Want to Be a Coach" program at the 2017 Final Four in Dallas, Texas.
The senior is the only Redbird to start all 29 games and has played in every possible game in her four-year career (119). She is averaging 11.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 33.2 minutes per game, while leading the MVC in free throw shooting at 84.7 percent (61-of-72). Stewart has produced 14 double-digit scoring games this season, including 20 or more four times. She poured in a career-high 28 points and set the Illinois State program record for most 3-pointers in a game with eight (on 11 attempts) at Missouri State (1/20) while making a career-high 10 field goals (on 18 attempts). In the third game of the season, Stewart tied the program record for most triples in a game with seven (on 12 attempts) en route to scoring a then career-best 24 points in a win over Valparaiso (11/19).
Stewart and her teammates are set to start the conference tournament - Hoops in the Heartland - Thursday, March 9, at 4 p.m. against No. 8 Indiana State. The winner plays Friday, March 10, at 12 p.m. against No. 1 Drake.
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