Tamara McCaskill

In the midst of its best season in school history, Missouri S&T was well represented on the Great Lakes Valley Conference all-conference team as three members of its squad were named to the 2007-08 all-league team.

Junior forward Tamara McCaskill (Edwardsville, Ill.), the Lady Miners’ leading scorer and seventh-leading scorer in the GLVC, was one of the five first-team selections to the squad. McCaskill enters Saturday’s GLVC semifinal game with Northern Kentucky averaging 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and nearly two assists per game, while shooting 50.3 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three-point range and 71.3 percent at the line.

McCaskill also has 31 blocked shots and 42 steals on the season; she has led the team in scoring in 15 of its 27 games thus far on the year. On two occasions this season, she was named as the GLVC’s “Player of the Week.”

McCaskill was joined on the first team by Drury’s Molly Carter-- who was named as the league’s “Player of the Year” -- Northern Kentucky’s Angela Healy, Quincy’s Jessica Keller and Southern Illinois Edwardsville forward Amber Shelton.

The other two members of the Lady Miners’ front line, senior Katie Bunge (Mexico, Mo.) and junior Katie McElrath (Owasso, Okla.), were named Thursday to the All-GLVC third team.

Bunge is scoring 10.9 points per game and is the GLVC’s third-leading rebounder with 8.4 per contest, which shooting 50.6 percent from the field and making 31 steals. Bunge has recorded a team-high eight double-doubles this year.

McElrath is S&T’s second-leading scorer with an average of 11.6 points a game, including a 21-point effort in the Lady Miners’ quarterfinal win over Bellarmine Tuesday. She ranks among the league leaders in field goal percentage at 54.1 percent and leads S&T with 35 blocked shots. McElrath is averaging six rebounds per contest.

The Lady Miners head into Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game with Northern Kentucky at Drury University with a 22-5 record and are currently ranked third in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes region. The 22 wins are the most by a Lady Miner team in school history.

2007-08 ALL-GLVC TEAM

First team
Molly Carter, Sr., Drury (Player of the Year)
Angela Healy, Sr., Northern Kentucky
Jessica Keller, Jr., Quincy
Tamara McCaskill, Jr., Missouri S&T
Amber Shelton, Sr., SIU Edwardsville

Second team
Jasmine Baines, Sr., Southern Indiana
LaTasha Henry, Sr., Kentucky Wesleyan
Karla Mast, Sr., Indianapolis
Kayla Ming, Sr., Wisconsin-Parkside
Angela Smith, Sr., Bellarmine

Third team
Lindsay Ballweg, So., Drury
Cassie Brannen, Jr., Northern Kentucky
Katie Bunge, Sr., Missouri S&T
Jessica Canary, So., Indianapolis
Amanda Gibson, So., Wisconsin-Parkside
Katie McElrath, Jr., Missouri S&T
Samantha Meissel, Fr., Indianapolis
Denasha Mondy, Sr., Bellarmine
Melanie Oliver, So., Drury
Jessie Slack, Sr., Northern Kentucky
Katie Willinger, Sr., Bellarmine