NOTEBOOK (PDF)
New Leader at the Top
Missouri State overcome a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit Friday evening, out-scoring Drake 32-16 in the final 10 minutes for an 85-79 victory, ending the Bulldogs’ record 47-game MVC regular season win streak. The Lady Bears extended their win streak to 12 games overall and 16 in MVC play following a win over UNI Sunday. The Lady Bears became the 1st Valley team to sweep the Iowa road swing since Indiana State in 2014.
One of the Best
Missouri State’s 12-game win streak ranks as the second longest active streak in the nation. The Lady Bears streak sits behind Oregon’s streak of 14-game win streak. During the win streak MSU is outscoring and outrebounding its opponents by a +15.3 scoring and +12.4 rebounding margin.
Longest Active Winning Streaks (NCAA)
14 - Oregon
12 - Missouri State & Baylor
At the Turn...
At the halfway point in the MVC schedule, Missouri State sits in first-place with a perfect 9-0 mark. Drake is tied for the second spot at 8-1, while UNI occupies the No. 3 spot in the standings at 6-3 in league play. Bradley is the fourth and final team sitting above .500 in league play at 5-4.
Historic Streak Ends
With its first conference loss to Missouri State, Drake had the longest win streak in the history of the Gateway/MVC for regular season contests end at 47-straight games. The impressive streak, lasting more than two entire seasons, started during the 2015-16 season with a win over Loyola. The Bulldogs broke SIU’s 37 game streak that went from 1985-1987 during the Gateway era with a win over Illinois State during the 2017-18 season.
League Leaders
Missouri State’s 9-0 league start matches eight others who have started with nine-straight league wins in 2018-19. (through Feb. 4).
NCAA Teams With Perfect League Marks
10-0 Baylor, Marquette, Oregon, Quinnipiac
9-0 Lamar, Missouri State, Mississippi State, Rice, Robert Morris
8-0 UConn, Florida Gulf Coast, NC A&T, SF Austin
7-0 Mercer
Elite Profile
Drake is one of 21 teams with 2 or more Top 25 RPI wins (Rutgers and South Carolina) this season, joining Central Michigan, Gonzaga, South Dakota State and UConn as the only non-Power Five teams with a pair of wins.
20/20 Vision
Bradley’s Chelsea Brackmann scored a career-best 24 points and the leading rebounder in the MVC added 20 boards at Loyola as she notched her second 20-20 performance of the year. Prior to this season there had been just two 20-20 outings in the MVC (2015-16 & 2014-15) over the previous seven years and Brackmann is the first Valley player to have two 20-20 games in the same season since at least the 1994-95 season. Brackmann is one of four players in the nation with multiple 20-20 games this season through contests of Feb. 3.
20-20 Games in MVC since 1994-95
Chelsea Brackmann (BRAD) 2018-19 (2)
Dyana Pierre (SIU) 2015-16
Dyana Pierre (SIU) 2014-15
Kenyatta Shelton (ILS) - 2010-11
Shannon Thomas (INS) - 2010-11
Allison Starr (UNI) - 99-00
Roshonda Reed (MSU) - 1998-99
Shyla McKibbon (UE) - 1997-98
2018-19 NCAA Multiple 20-20 Games
Kristine Anigwe (Cal) - 4
Chelsea Brackmann (Bradley) - 2
Reyna Frost (Central Michigan) - 2
Sydney Holloway (Bryant) - 2
The Future is Now
The league leaders in several key statistical categories this season are currently non-seniors, Below is a look at the MVC leaders in several categories, as well as their year in school.
MVC - Individual Stat Leaders (Year in School)
Scoring - Becca Hittner, DU (Jr.) - 9 of top-10 non-seniors
Rebounding - Chelsea Brackmann, BU (Jr.) - 8 of top-10 non-seniors
Assists - Brittney Patrick, SIU (Jr.) - 7 of top-10 non-seniors
Blocks - Abby O’Connor, LUC (So.) - 9 of top-10 non-seniors
Steals - Ashli O’Neal, INS (Jr.) - 7 of top-10 non-seniors
FG Percentage - Sara Rhine, DU (Jr.) - 8 of top-10 non-seniors
FT Percentage - Abby O’Connor, LUC (So.) - 6 of top-10 non-seniors
Home Sweet Home
Southern Illinois opens up a three-game homestead this coming weekend when it hosts Missouri State. The Salukis are 8-1 inside SIU Arena this season and Southern’s .889 winning percentage at home is the best in the Valley thus far this season. The Salukis have now won at least eight home games in five-straight seasons, including 10 during the 2015-16 season. It marks the first time in over 20 years (1993-97) that Southern has posted five-straight seasons with winning records on its home floor.
Showcasing Various Standouts
In two games over a three-day span during the first weekend of February, Valpo remarkably had five different players enjoy 20-point games. Over the last five contests, the team has been led in scoring by five different players: Grace Hales (21 vs. Evansville), Addison Stoller (22 at Southern Illinois), Shay Frederick (17 at Missouri State), Meredith Hamlet (23 vs. Bradley) and Allison Schofield (22 vs. Illinois State).
8 Or More Above .500
The Valley is one of nine conferences nationally to have eight or more teams sitting at or above .500 entering play on Monday (Feb. 4). The MVC joins the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, C-USA, MAC, Pac 12 and SEC in the club.
Strength of Schedule
Drake, Missouri State and UNI tested themselves with a difficult non-conference schedule this season. According to WarrenNolan.com, the Bulldogs played the third toughest non-conference strength of schedule this season, while the Lady Bears’ non-league schedule ranks 47th and Panthers 74th nationally.
Sharp Shooters
A year after seeing Evansville lead the nation in free-throw percentage (82.0%), The Valley has three of the nation’s top 15 teams in the category so far this season. UNI currently leads the league and sits 7th nationally, while Evansville sits 12th and Loyola 14th.
Loyola’s Abby O’Connor leads The Valley and ranks No. 9 nationally hitting 91.7% of her attempts. In 2012-13, UNI’s Jacqui Kalin set the MVC record with a percentage of 95.5% for a season.
As a conference, The Valley sits third nationally with a combined FT% of 71.4%.
Free-Throw Percentage (By Conference)
1. Summit 72.8%
2. Pac 12 71.5%
3. Missouri Valley 71.4%
4. Big East 71.1%
5. ACC 70.7%
The RPI Ratings Game
The latest installment of the NCAA RPI Report (Feb. 4) has six Valley teams that rank in the top-175, led by Drake at No. 19, followed by Missouri State (66), UNI (94), Southern Illinois (154), Bradley (156) and Indiana State (172). The MVC ranks 12th among 32 conferences. The league ranking is the highest for the league since the 2013 season (finished 10th).