ST. LOUIS –  Senior guard Katy Winge earned All-Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete honors Tuesday, as announced by the league office. She received second team accolades. In all, 15 players were honored on the scholar-athlete teams.
"I'm so proud of Katy," head coach Barb Smith said. "Playing basketball while attending college is like having two full-time jobs. For her to have achieved so much academically is outstanding. She demonstrates the true meaning of a student-athlete."
Winge is the only Redbird to start every game this season and is the team's leading scorer with 11.3 points per game. Through 29 games, she has poured in 328 points and tallied double-digit performances in 18 games, including five-straight games with a double-digit scoring effort. Besides leading ISU in points per game, the Eden Prairie, Minnesota, native also leads the Redbirds in assists (54) and three-point field goal percentage (33.1), and ranks third on the team in steals (30).
Winge, a MVC Scholar-Athlete honorable mention selection, was named the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week on Dec. 31, after leading ISU in scoring against Butler and then-No. 25 DePaul. A three-time captain, Winge netted a career-high 25 points at Wisconsin (Nov. 16). She also dished out a career-high five assists against Evansville (Jan. 15), followed by four steals against Bradley (Jan. 30), which was also a career high. Winge is in the top-15 in three categories in the Valley rankings, including scoring, three-point field goal percentage and made 3-pointers. Winge holds a 3.87 cumulative grade-point average with a double major in marketing and broadcast journalism. She has been on the AFNI Honor Roll every semester.
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 3.20 grade-point average (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.
The Redbirds enter the 2015 Valley Tournament in St. Charles, Missouri, as the No. 10 seed. ISU will play Thursday at Family Arena at 7:07 p.m., against No. 7 Evansville.
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