ST. LOUIS — Nicole Martin and Makenzie Silvey were named All-Missouri Valley Conference Honorable Mention selections, the league announced Wednesday. Martin earned her third-straight All-MVC honor while Silvey was named to the All-MVC honorable mention team for the second-straight season. Brittney Patrick, meanwhile, earned her first career All-Defensive Team honor in her senior campaign.
Martin is the ninth player in program history to earn three all-conference honors. She joins Bridgett Bonds, Cartaesha Macklin, Dyana Pierre, Kasia McClendon, Kelly Firth, Nikki Gilmore, Petra Jackson, Rishonda Napier and Anita Scott as the only Salukis to accomplish the feat.
A Preseason All-MVC selection, Martin has started 28 games and is averaging 12.7 points and 5.4 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per game. She has scored in double figures in 21 games this season, including three 20-plus point games. The Jefferson City, Mo. native finished the regular season ranked in the top-15 of the MVC in five statistical categories including seventh in offensive rebounds (2.0), 10th in field goal percentage (48.8%), 11th in scoring (12.7), tied for 14th in blocks per game (.6) and tied for 15th in rebounds per game (5.4). Martin will end her Saluki career ranked in the top-10 in program history for both career points and career rebounds and is one of just eight players in program history to score over 1,400 points in their career.
Silvey earned her second-straight All-MVC honor after a stellar junior campaign. The shooting guard from Edwardsville, Ill. has started all 29 games for SIU and is averaging 14.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals in 31 minutes per game. She has reached double figures in 24 games this season, including eight games with 20-plus points. Silvey finished the regular season ranked in the top-15 of the MVC in six statistical categories, including fifth in three-pointers made per game (2.1), seventh in scoring (14.8), eighth in minutes played per game (30.9), 13th in steals (1.5), and 14th in three-point field goal percentage (34.5%). Earlier this season, Silvey became the 27th player in program history to score 1,000 career points.
Patrick earned her first career All-Defensive team honor after she tied for third in the conference for steals (1.8/game). A lockdown defender at the point guard position, Patrick notched at least one steal in 23 of SIU’s 29 games, which included 13 games with multiple takeaways. The senior from DeKalb, Ill. recorded six steals against Bradley (Feb. 2) and five versus Drake (Feb. 7) to become the first Saluki with back-to-back five-plus steal games since 2014.
Martin, Silvey, Patrick and Abby Brockmeyer (MVC Scholar-Athlete Honorable Mention) will be honored on Thursday, March 12 at the annual awards ceremony prior to their game against Evansville at the 2020 MVC Tournament inside the TaxSlayer Center. SIU is the seventh seed in the tournament and will take on the 10th-seeded Evansville Purple Aces at 7 p.m.
Photo from siusalukis.com
