Steph Reichle repeated as a second-team choice on the Missouri Valley Conference Womens Basketball Scholar-Athlete team as voted by the Valley womens basketball media relations contacts.
Reichle, with a 3.86 grade point average as a public relations major, leads the Redbirds in steals, is No. 2 on the team in rebounds and assists, including 24 steals in her last nine games.
The junior guard from Lincoln, Ill., and fellow 2002 second-teamer Abbi Schutte of Northern Iowa are the only repeat selections from the 2001 team. Reichle is one of six players on the second team; the first team features seven players and four made honorable mention.
The criteria for the Scholar-Athlete team balloting parallels the Verizon/CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves, have played at least 50 percent of a team's games, and must carry at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average (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. Honorable mention selections are awarded to student-athletes who receive a minimum of two votes. A total of 25 Valley student-athletes met the criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2002.
Reichle is the 14th Illinois State selection to the team in the 10 years the Missouri Valley has had a scholar-athlete team. If she makes the team as a senior in 2003, she will join only Jenny Schmidt and Valarie Trame as Redbird players selected three times to Valley Scholar-Athlete teams.
