Tuti Jones and Kendall Holmes Named to MVC Scholar-Athlete Teams

ST. LOUIS – For their exemplary work off the court and in the classroom, Belmont University women's basketball's Tuti Jones and Kendall Holmes have been named to the 2025 Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete Teams. Voted upon by the Valley's women's basketball communications directors, the first, second and third-team scholar-athlete selections were announced by the league office Tuesday morning.
 
For the second consecutive year, graduate guard Tuti Jones has been placed on the MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team. Fellow graduate guard Kendall Holmes, in her first year as a Bruin, has been chosen to the MVC Scholar-Athlete Third Team.
 
Last May, Jones graduated from Belmont with her bachelor's degree in sport administration and is currently pursuing her master's degree in sport administration. She holds a perfect 4.0 grade point average in the Master of Sport Administration program after finishing her undergraduate studies with a 3.95 cumulative GPA.
 
Holmes also graduated last May from the University of South Dakota with her bachelor's degree in general studies and is currently taking medical school pre-requisites. After completing her undergraduate studies with 3.90 cumulative GPA, Holmes has achieved a 3.92 GPA while at Belmont.
 
A native of Troy, Alabama (Charles Henderson HS), Jones was named to the 2024 Division I-AAA Athletics Directors Association (DI-AAA ADA) Scholar-Athlete Team and earned the 2024 DI-AAA ADA Postgraduate Scholarship award. On the court, Jones has been a staple for the Bruins' success since the 2020-21 season and is Belmont's 35th 1,000-point scorer with 1,365 career points. The Bruins' NCAA era steals leader, Jones has amassed 329 steals as one of only 24 active players across all NCAA divisions with 300 career steals. An All-MVC and MVC All-Defensive Team pick last season, Jones is averaging 9.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game this season while ranking among the top 60 players in the nation with 70 steals.
 
Winning DePaul's Shirley Becker Academic Award in 2021-22 as a sophomore, Holmes has been impactful for Belmont since arriving on campus last summer. The Plainfield, Illinois (Benet Academy), and Chicago-area native reached 1,000 career points in her hometown on Feb. 9 in the victory at the University of Illinois Chicago. Holmes is the Bruins' third-leading scorer (10.8 PPG) and has reached double figures in 18 games this season while averaging 3.4 rebounds per outing.
 
The criteria for the MVC Scholar-Athlete Teams voting parallels the College Sports Communicators (CSC) standards for the Academic All-America^® program. 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 3.5 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale), and a graduate student-athlete must have at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale) as both an undergraduate and graduate student unless they are in their first semester as a graduate student and don't have an established graduate GPA. Additionally, nominated student-athletes must be a starter or important reserve and must have participated in 75 percent of the team's games played during the season.
 
How to Follow
Follow Belmont women's basketball on social media - @BelmontWBB on X, formerly Twitter, @belmontwbb on Instagram and Belmont Women's Basketball on Facebook - for complete coverage of the Bruins. Stay up to date with all of Belmont's athletic programs via the official app of the Belmont Bruins, available both in the Apple App Store and on Google Play.