Feb. 26, 2008
NORMAL, Ill. -
Junior Kristi Cirone, a guard on the Illinois State women's basketball team, was named the Prairie Farms/Missouri Valley Conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Week on Tuesday, Feb. 26. It was the third award of the season for Cirone, which honors a male and female Valley athlete every week for academic and athletic success, and the fifth recognition of her career. Cirone and Wichita State volleyball player Abby Harsh are the only student-athletes to receive the award three times this season. Cirone has been named MVC Player of the Week all three times she has earned scholar-athlete of the week recognition, as well.
Cirone average 18 points, six steals and four assists in the Redbirds' last two games. In the win over Wichita State, she scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting and tied her career-high with eight steals, the most by a Valley player this season. She followed that performance with a team-high 21 points, four assists and four steals in ISU's triumph over Missouri State. Cirone scored 10 of the Redbirds' first 12 points in the game, which moved her into the top-10 in career scoring at Illinois State, and she is currently in 10th place with 1,335 career points. Her 12 steals on the weekend moved her from a tie for 16th place into sole possession of 11th place on the ISU all-time list with 164.
Cirone, who carries a 3.45 grade-point average in exercise science and was a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-Academic District V Second-Team selection earlier this year, is the third Redbird to receive a scholar-athlete of the week honor. Her teammate, sophomore forward Ashleen Bracey, received the award on Dec. 19 and women's soccer forward Bethany Russ earned the award on Sept. 19. Bradley guard Jeremy Crouch was the male recipient this week.
The Prairie Farms/Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week award is in its ninth year and seeks to acknowledge student-athletes in the Valley for their athletic and academic achievements. To qualify for the award, student-athletes must carry a GPA of at least 3.00, have completed at least one academic year at a Valley institution and be at least a sophomore in academic standing. In addition to their academic qualifications, student-athletes will be evaluated on their athletic performances for a one-week period.
