Four Valley women's basketball teams are taking part in tournaments during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Bradley - Coastal Carolina Thanksgiving Tournament (Nov. 29-Dec. 1)
Drake - Gulf Coast Showcase (Nov. 29-30)
Indiana State-  Tiger Turkey Tipoff (Nov. 29-30)
UNI - South Point Shootout (Las Vegas) (Nov. 29-30)

Poll Position
Drake and Missouri State continue to receive votes in this week’s AP Top 25 Poll.  The Lady Bears are receiving 36 votes and sit 29th, while the Bulldogs are receiving 6 votes this week (Nov. 25) and sit 32nd. 

The Lady Bears entered the national rankings on Nov. 19 in the No. 22 spot of the USA Today Coaches poll, and moved up to 19th this week. MSU has now been ranked 111 weeks (58 Coaches, 53 AP), most recently at 24th in the final coaches poll last season. Prior to this year, Missouri State last had a regular season ranking on Feb. 9, 2004. 

Power Five Success
The MVC has already secured six wins over Power Five programs this season. The Valley is 6-5 vs. Power Five teams this season, already doubling last season’s win total of three. The Valley has a winning record against the Big 12 (2-1) and SEC (1-0) and is 3-3 vs. the Big Ten. The average margin of victory in the six wins is 10.3 points per game. 

MVC’s Wins Over Power Five Teams
Iowa State at Drake, W - 86-81
Missouri State at Oklahoma, W - 96-90
Illinois State at Illinois, W - 74-58
Iowa at UNI, W - 88-66
Missouri State at Minnesota, W - 77-69
UNI at Missouri, W - 78-73

This week’s schedule features multiple games against Power Five teams.

Nov. 26    Indiana State at Colorado
Nov. 29    Drake vs. Purdue (Estero, FL)
                UNI vs. Alabama (Las Vegas, NV)
Nov. 30    UNI vs. Ohio State (Las Vegas, NV)

Drake could also possibly face Arizona State and Auburn in the Gulf Coast Showcase this weekend.
    
Impressive Winning %
Valley women’s hoops sits 37-15 during the first three weeks of play.  The Valley has the highest winning percentage outside of the Power Five conferences entering this week’s action.

Top Winning Percentages by Conference
.864 - Big 12
.842 - Pac 12
.812 - Big Ten
.787 - SEC
.731 - ACC
.712 - Missouri Valley 
.707 - Ivy League

Hot Starts
Six Valley teams are sitting with one or fewer losses entering play this week. Four of those six teams are off to historic starts.   

Loyola’s 5-0 start is the second in program history, matching the 1979-80 Ramblers. A win at Portland Sunday would give Loyola the best start in program history.

UNI’s 5-0 start is the first for the program since the 1998-99 season.  That Panthers team holds the program record with a 7-0 start. 

Missouri State’s 6-1 start is the best for the Lady Bears since opening the 2003-04 season 19-1.

Illinois State’s 4-1 start is the best for the Redbirds since going 18-1 in 2007-08.

Bradley’s 4-1 start marks the second-straight season and 10th time in school history Bradley has kicked off a season with a 4-1 record or better.  The Braves have back-to-back starts of 4-1 or better for the first time since 1981-82.

Drake is no stranger to 4-1 starts.  The Bulldogs have kicked off a season 4-1 seven times since the 2000-01 season.

Sister Act
Bradley’s first set of sisters on a roster since 1977-78, sophomore Lasha Petree and freshman Mahri Petree are one of 22 sets of sisters on NCAA Division I rosters in 2019-20.  Mahri (9.2 ppg) has scored in double figures in two of the last three games and has combined with her sister Lasha (13.4 ppg) to average 22.6 points per game.  The duo is the third highest scoring sister combo in the country through games of Nov. 25.  Only four sets of sisters are combining to average at least 20 points per game, with Mahri the lone freshman among that group.  

Top Scoring Sisters (through 11/20)
Rank Names (School) Combined PPG
1. Emma & Ivy Wallen (North Ala.) 26.8
2. Lacie & Lexie Hull (Stanford) 23.4
3. Lasha & Mahri Petree (Bradley) 22.6
4. Hannah & Rebekah Hand (Marist) 21.4

Willard’s Hot Shooting
Missouri State’s Alexa Willard is well above pace to finish 50-40-90 this season, a shooting percentage line very few players reach. Through seven games, the senior is shooting 54.9 percent overall, 61.5 percent on three-pointers and 92.3 percent at the foul line.  

Against the Field
The MVC holds a winning record against 11 leagues in non-conference play, including the America East (1-0), Big 12 (2-1), Conference USA (1-0), Horizon (3-1), MAC (4-0), Mountain West (1-0), SEC (1-0) Southland (1-0), Summit (6-3), West Coast (1-0) and WAC (2-0). The MVC holds at least a .500 mark against the American (1-1), Big East (1-1), Big Ten (3-3) and Ohio Valley (4-4). The MVC has a losing record to only the Pac-12 (0-1).