ST. LOUIS – Monica Burich and Maddie Monahan of the Drake University women's basketball team have been named to the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Teams, the MVC announced Tuesday, March 9. Monahan was named to the first team while Burich earned honorable mention honors.
 
This is the second MVC Scholar-Athlete Team honor for Monahan, who was tabbed to the second team last season. This is the first for Burich.
 
Monahan, a senior, holds a 3.89 grade point average as a data analytics major. She is averaging a career-high 11.9 points per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the floor and a team-leading 87.5 percent from the free throw line. Her 3.9 assists per game ranks fourth in the MVC. Earlier this year, Monahan was a featured MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Week and was tabbed as one of 60 national finalists for the Senior CLASS award.
 
Burich is a graduate student who owns a 3.97 GPA in Drake's MBA program. She holds her bachelor's degree in business management with a data analytics minor. Burich has started every game this season and is averaging career-bests in scoring (7.8 ppg) and rebounding (5.7 rpg) and three-point shooting (46.7 percent).
 
The criteria for the scholar-athlete team balloting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for the 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 3.30 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.
 
Awards continue Wednesday morning with the announcement of the All-MVC teams.