ST. LOUIS, Mo. – For the second-straight year, Drake's Anna Miller has been named the State Farm Scholar-Athlete of the Year and headlines a group of six of the league's top players named to the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete First Team, as voted on by the Conference's women's basketball communications directors.

Miller has maintained a perfect 4.00 grade-point average (GPA) as a health sciences major. The senior ranks among the league's leaders in scoring, rebounding and blocks. She is joined on the first team by teammate Katie Dinnebier, Tuti Jones (Belmont), Elyce Knudsen (Illinois State), Nevaeh Thomas (Illinois State) and Katelyn Young (Murray State).
 
Courtney Becker and Abbie Aalsma also represented the Bulldogs on the Scholar-Athlete Second and Third Teams, respectively.

The criteria for the MVC Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the College Sports Communicators (CSC) standards for Academic All-America nominations. Student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically and must be enrolled at their institution at the time of nomination either as undergraduates or graduate students. An undergraduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale), and a graduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) as both an undergraduate and a grad student unless they are in their first semester as a graduate student and don't have an established
graduate GPA.

A total of 38 Valley student-athletes met the nomination criteria for scholar-athlete honors in 2025. 
 
2024-25 MVC SCHOLAR-ATHLETE TEAMS
First Team

Player	School	Class	GPA	Major
Katie Dinnebier	Drake	Sr.	3.74	Pharmacy
Tuti Jones	Belmont	Gr.	4.00	Sports Management
Elyce Knudsen	Illinois State	Gr.	4.00	MBA
Anna Miller	Drake	Sr.	4.00	Health Sciences
Nevaeh Thomas	Illinois State	So.	4.00	Exercise Science
Katelyn Young	Murray State	Gr.	4.00	Human Development & Leadership

 
Second Team

Player	School	Class	GPA	Major
Courtney Becker	Drake	Gr.	3.87	Pharmacy
Kiley Bess	Missouri St.	Sr.	4.00	Sports Management
Kyrah Daniels	Missouri St.	So.	4.00	Exercise & Movement Science
Haven Ford	Murray State	So.	4.00	Health & Physical Education
Kayba Laube	UNI	Sr.	3.89	Psychology & Biology

 
Third Team

Player	School	Class	GPA	Major
Abbie Aalsma	Drake	Jr.	4.00	Elementary Education
Leah Earnest	Valparaiso	Gr.	3.71	MBA
Ryley Goebel	UNI	Jr.	3.85	Nursing
Kendall Holmes	Belmont	Gr.	3.92	Medical School Pre-Requisites
Amy O'Hara	Bradley	Jr.	4.00	Psychology