Cheryl Burnett, the all-time winningest basketball coach in Missouri State women’s basketball history, has been selected for induction into the Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame, the league office announced Wednesday. Burnett, who coached the Lady Bears from 1987 to 2002, will become the first MSU head coach to be enshrined into the Valley’s Hall of Fame when the conference honors three inductees next March in St. Louis.

A native of Centralia, Mo., Burnett guided MSU to ten 20-win seasons and 10 NCAA Tournament berths in her 15 seasons as head coach of the Lady Bears. Missouri State advanced beyond the first round in seven of those 10 NCAA appearances, with a Sweet Sixteen trip in 1993 and trips to the Final Four in 1992 and 2001. Her 1991-92 Lady Bears became the lowest-seeded team (eighth) to reach the Final Four, as they defeated Kansas, top-seeded Iowa, UCLA and Ole Miss before facing Western Kentucky in the national semifinals. The 2000-01 MSU squad was seeded fifth and knocked off Toledo, Rutgers, top-seeded Duke and Washington to advance to St. Louis with a national semifinal loss to Purdue.

Burnett’s career numbers include 319 overall wins and 201 league triumphs in the Gateway Collegiate Athletic and Missouri Valley Conference play. Missouri State won or tied for nine conference regular-season titles and claimed six league tournament championships during her tenure.

Burnett’s years saw her MSU teams also among conference and national leaders in academic performance and the Lady Bears were among the nation’s top 10 teams in average attendance 11 years in a row, including leading the nation in average attendance in 1992-93. Three Lady Bears were named CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-Americans, with Lisa Davies selected as the 1997-98 Academic All-American of the Year.

A winner of numerous Coach of the Year honors who produced eight Kodak All-America selections by five different players, Burnett had the staggering totals of five league MVP selections, 26 first-team all-conference players and 12 first-team academic all-conference choices. In 2007, she was named the Valley’s all-time greatest women’s basketball coach in conjunction with the selection of the MVC All-Centennial Team, onto which seven of her former players were voted. She was inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2003.

A graduate of the University of Kansas, Burnett recruited and coached Lady Bear legend Jackie Stiles -- the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women’s basketball history with 3,393 points and a 2006 MVC Hall of Fame inductee. Burnett becomes the third Lady Bear in the MVC Hall, joining Stiles and Melody Howard.

Burnett will be joined by former Southern Illinois men’s basketball coach Rich Herrin and Creighton men’s hoops standout Kyle Korver in the 13th MVC Hall of Fame class. Korver will be enshrined as a Hall of Fame selection, while Herrin and Burnett are Coaches Wing choices.

For the seventh time in eight years, The Valley will conduct its annual Hall of Fame ceremony as part the State Farm MVC Men’s Basketball Championship weekend on March 4-7, 2010, in St. Louis. The induction ceremony will take place at Scottrade Center on Friday, March 5, beginning with an 8 a.m. breakfast, followed by the induction ceremony at 8:45 a.m.

Tickets to the 2010 Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame Ceremony can be obtained by calling the league office at (314) 421-0339. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.