ST. LOUIS – Former Drake University women's basketball standouts Carla Bennett, Tricia Wakely and Lizzy Wendell have been selected to the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball 25-Year Anniversary Team, the MVC office announced Tuesday, Jan. 2 morning.
 
The 2017-18 season is a landmark one for the MVC and for women's sports. To help celebrate the 45th anniversary of Title IX and the 25th anniversary of women's sports, the Valley is naming 25-Year Anniversary Teams throughout 2017-18 for each of the league's sponsored women's sports.
 
Bennett (1999-2003), Wakely (1992-96) and Wendell (2013-17) are three of the most decorated players in Drake and MVC history. Bennett helped Drake win three MVC championships, play in three NCAA tournaments and was a member of the 2001-02 Drake team which advanced to the 2002 NCAA Sweet Sixteen. Wakely was a member of the 1994-95 Drake team that won the MVC Tournament and later advanced to the second round of the 1995 NCAA Tournament. Wendell was a member of the 2016-17 team, which set numerous records, including the only MVC team to go undefeated in league play at 18-0, compiled a MVC and program-record 22-game winning streak and won the 2017 MVC Tournament and advanced to the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
 
A two-time All-American honorable mention honoree, Bennett is just one of seven players to be selected to the MVC First Team four times in a career. Bennett is No. 6 in career scoring at Drake and No. 12 in MVC history with 1,930 points. She was named the 2000 MVC Freshman of the Year, was a two-time MVC Scholar-Athlete First team selection and was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Wade Trophy her senior year.
 
Wakely earned All-American honorable mention accolades her final season, was named  the 1996 MVC Player of the Year and to the MVC First Team. twice She is No. 12 all-time in career scoring at Drake with 1,605 points. Wakely was a decorated student in the classroom, who was named the co-COSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in 1996 and was selected to the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team three times in her career.


 
Wendell, the youngest player on the anniversary team, scored 2,551 career points, which is the third highest total in Drake and MVC history. She is just the fourth Bulldog and eighth MVC player to score 2,000 or more points. Wendell was selected to the All-MVC First Team all four years of her outstanding career, a feat that has been accomplished by Bennett and just five others in MVC history. In her senior season, Wendell was named the 2017 Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year, an Associated Press All-American honorable mention honoree and a WBCA All-American honorable mention selection. She was tabbed MVC Player of the Week 14 times in her career, a total that is second all-time in Valley history behind just Jackie Stiles of Missouri State (18), who was No. 1 in the anniversary team balloting.
 
Team composition for each sport has been determined by a 25-person committee (two representatives from each MVC institution and a panel of five voters from the conference office).  The team composition includes years in which league teams competed under the MVC umbrella during the past 25 years (1992-2017) and does not include competition from the current season.
 
The voting panel determined a 'Top 10' from a list of 25 finalists. To view the entire team, click here.