ST. LOUIS, Mo. (March 6, 2018) – Jessica Cerda (Streamwood, Ill./Streamwood/Chicago State) and Katie Salmon (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa East), both members of the Loyola University Chicago women's basketball team, have been named honorable mention selections to the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Team, it was announced by the league office on Tuesday.
 
Cerda has impressed during her lone season with the Maroon & Gold, operating at a 36.7 percent (69-of-188) clip from beyond the three-point arc en route to ranking second overall on the team in scoring at 10.0 points per game.  The Streamwood, Ill. product's 69 makes from distance currently puts her eighth overall on the program's single-season record board in the category.  Cerda, who leads the MVC in three-point field goals made since the start of MVC play (2.5), has scored a season-high 19 points on three separate occasions, highlighted by wins against Chicago State and Southern Illinois.
 
Away from the court, Cerda sports a 3.67 grade-point average as a graduate student majoring in social work.
 
Salmon reached double figures in scoring on seven different occasions as she closed the regular season averaging 6.7 points and 3.9 rebounds.  Out of Wauwatosa, Wis., Salmon notched her third career double-double against city rival DePaul, scoring 11 points and collecting a season-best 12 rebounds, before pouring in 16 points as part of a pivotal 71-61 road win over Bradley. 
 
Salmon, who is now a two-time Scholar-Athlete honoree, holds a 3.88 cumulative grade-point average as a statistics major.
 
The criteria for the Missouri Valley Conference's Scholar-Athlete Team voting parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for Academic All-America voting. Nominees must be starters or important reserves with least a 3.20 cumulative grade-point average (4.0 scale). Student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institution (true freshmen and redshirt freshmen are not eligible) and must have completed at least one full academic year at their institution. He must have played in 75 percent of his team's games. Voting for the teams is conducted by the league's sports information directors.
 
Ninth-seeded Loyola opens play in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m. when it takes on eighth-seeded Valparaiso at the TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Ill.