Women's Basketball Collects Multiple National Academic Honors from DI-AAA Athletics Directors Association

CLEVELAND – Once again Belmont University women's basketball is represented on the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete Team with both Tuti Jones and Tessa Miller earning national academic honors. Jones has been chosen as the female recipient of the 2024 DI-AAA ADA Postgraduate Scholarship, while former Bruin Tessa Miller has been named 2024 DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
 
It marks the second time in three years Belmont has captured both the DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete of the Year and DI-AAA ADA Postgraduate Scholarship awards. Former forward Conley Chinn, a 2022 graduate, was selected as DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete of the Year back-to-back years in 2021 and 2022 and was the 2022 DI-AAA ADA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient.
 
The 22nd annual DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team and award winners, presented by ARMS Software, were announced by the organization midday Thursday. Jones and Miller are the only two women's basketball student-athletes from the Missouri Valley Conference on the 11-member DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete Team.  
 
A native of Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), Jones recently graduated with her bachelor's degree in sport administration and a minor in nutrition and will begin pursuing her master's degree at Belmont this fall. Maintaining a 3.95 cumulative grade point average throughout her undergraduate studies, Jones will receive $5,000 towards her postgraduate studies as recipient of the DI-AAA ADA Postgraduate Scholarship. Additionally, Jones is invited to attend the DI-AAA ADA awards luncheon as part of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention in June in Las Vegas.
 
For her dedication to her academics, Jones collected College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District^® honors in late March and was a 2023-24 MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team selection. A 2022-23 MVC Commissioner's Academic Excellence Award honoree, Jones was a member of the Ohio Valley Conference Commissioner's Honor Roll as a freshman and sophomore.
 
On the hardwood, the guard landed a spot on the All-MVC Third Team and MVC All-Defensive Team this past season. Jones became the Bruins' 35th 1,000-point scorer in the final game of the regular season and broke Belmont's NCAA era career steals record in the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament. With 259 career steals, Jones is third all-time in program history.
 
Nearing 300 career assists, Jones has collected over 400 rebounds and has averaged at least 11 points each of the last three seasons. In 2023-24, Jones distributed at least four assists in 23 of 35 games, scored in double figures 18 times and recorded her second career double-double in a convincing neutral-site win over the Big Ten Conference's Northwestern.
 
In the community, Jones has been actively involved with several initiatives including serving as a childcare assistant and food prepper at Harvest Hands Community Development and a food server at Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and Dream Streets. She has also participated in Tennessee Alliance for Kids' TAK PAK hosted by Belmont Athletics.
 
Miller, a native of Crossville, Tennessee (Stone Memorial HS), was an All-MVC Second Team performer this past season, earned a winter State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award, received CSC Academic All-District^® recognition for the second-straight year and landed a spot on the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team. The forward held a 3.97 cumulative GPA as a legal studies major during her time as a Bruin.
 
About Division I-AAA ADA
Now in its 23rd year, the Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association's mission is to enhance initiatives common to its Division I-AAA membership (the 98 Division I institutions that do not sponsor football), in particular, aspects related to their flagship basketball programs. For more information on the Division I-AAA ADA, please visit www.Div1AAA-ADA.com. The Division I-AAA ADA is administered by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), which is in its 59th year. For more information on NACDA and the 18 professional associations that fall under its umbrella, please visit www.NACDA.com.
 
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