ST. LOUIS – Drake University junior Liza Heap (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) earned honorable mention Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball Scholar-Athlete honors, the league announced Tuesday.

Heap, who started all 29 games this season, is averaging 5.0 points per game and is second on the team in rebounding at 4.9 a game. Playing in her home state for the first time, she poured in a career-high 18 points behind a career-best four three-pointers, at Colorado State on Nov. 16. She led the Bulldogs on the glass in eight games this year.

Heap is an outstanding student in the classroom with a 3.75 cumulative grade point average in biology, neurosciences and psychology. She was the recipient of the MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence award last season as a sophomore and was named to the MVC Academic Honor Roll as a freshman.

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 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.

A total of 27 Valley student-athletes met the nomination criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2014.

First Team

Brooke Brown, UNI

Anna Munn, Indiana State (MVP)

Chloe Nelson, Illinois State

Kenzie Williams, Missouri State

Michelle Young, Bradley

Second Team

Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir, Indiana State

Kelsey Budd, Bradley

Kelsey Jacobs, Wichita State

Jen Keitel, UNI

Mallory Ladd, Evansville

Honorable Mention

Lyndsey Booker, Loyola

Jordyn Courier, Southern Illinois

Stephanie Davison, UNI

Brittni Donaldson, UNI

Liza Heap, Drake

Kasey Johnson, Indiana State

Catie O'Leary, Bradley

Katy Winge, Illinois State