MVC Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Release

CHICAGO (March 12, 2019) – Abby O'Connor (South Bend, Ind./St. Joseph) and Ellie Rice (Austin, Texas/Regents School of Austin), both sophomores on the Loyola University Chicago women's basketball team, have been named to the Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete Teams, the league office announced on Tuesday.  Both O'Connor and Rice were recognized as Honorable Mention selections.
 
O'Connor has enjoyed an impressive sophomore campaign, leading the Ramblers in scoring (14.4 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg).  The South Bend, Ind. native upped her game in Valley play, scoring in double figures in 16 of Loyola's 18 MVC contests as she increased those numbers to 14.7 ppg and 7.5 rpg, respectively.  O'Connor closed the regular season as the MVC leader in both three-point field goal percentage (.417) and blocked shots (1.6 bpg).
 
Off the court, O'Connor sports a 3.39 cumulative grade-point average as a Criminal Justice and Political Science double major.
 
Rice has stepped in to a prominent role of her own as a sophomore, reaching double figures in scoring 17 times en route to averaging 11.1 ppg.  Out of Austin, Texas, Rice more than doubled her assists total from a year ago, handing out 75 helpers (2.6 apg) to rank second on the Rambler roster in the category. 
 
Away from the hardwood, Rice boasts a 3.75 cumulative grade-point average as a Biology major.
 
The criteria for the MVC Scholar-Athlete team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for the Google Cloud 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 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.
 
Seventh-seeded Loyola opens play in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Thursday evening against tenth-seeded Evansville in an opening round contest.  Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Ill.

MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team
Chelsea Brackmann, Bradley
Danielle Gitzen, Missouri State
Becca Hittner, Drake
Ellie Howell, UNI
Sara Rhine, Drake
 
MVC Scholar-Athlete Second Team
Abby Brockmeyer, Southern Illinois
Maddy Dean, Drake
Gabi Haack, Bradley
Karli Rucker, UNI
Makenzie Silvey, Southern Illinois
Alexa Willard, Missouri State
 
MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention
Sammie Bachrodt, Drake
Taylor Hagen, UNI
Meredith Hamlet, Valparaiso
Tamara Lee, Indiana State
Nicole Martin, Southern Illinois
Abby O'Connor, Loyola
Ellie Rice, Loyola
Paige Saylor, Illinois State