Women's Basketball

MVC Women's Basketball Weekly Notebook - Jan. 11

NOTEBOOK (PDF)

Bradley (3-1), Drake (3-1) and UNI (3-1) currently occupy the top spot in the standings after the first two weekends of league play in the books.  Preseason favorite Missouri State has yet to play a league game due to COVID issues the first two weeks. The Lady Bears will look to begin league play at UNI this Saturday and have not played a game since December 19. Bradley has the league’s longest win streak at three-straight and will face Evansville on the road this weekend. Drake is riding its first two-game win streak of the season and will return home to host Indiana State. 

1,000-Point Club
The Valley has six active players in the 1,000-point club.  Southern Illinois’ Abby Brockmeyer became the sixth active player to join the club Saturday at Bradley.  UNI’s Megan Maahs can become the seventh active player to reach the milestone this weekend vs. Missouri State, sitting 15 points shy of 1,000.

20 teams nationally currently have two players in the club, UNI would become the 3rd Valley team to have multiple active players reach the scoring milestone.

Current MVC Players in 1,000-Point Club
1,337 - Gabi Haack, Bradley
1,284 - Makenzie Silvey, Southern Illinois
1,190 - Karli Rucker, UNI
1,111 - Lasha Petree, Bradley
1,083 - Brice Calip, Missouri State
1,002 - Abby Brockmeyer, Southern Illinois

Approaching 1,000-Point Club
985 - Megan Maahs, UNI

Warren’s Win Count
Tanya Warren owns 249 victories as UNI’s head coach. With her next victory, Warren would become the fourth coach in conference women’s basketball history to join the league’s official 250-Win Club.

Coach, School, Years                                        Wins
Cindy Scott, Southern Illinois (1983-98)            353
Cheryl Burnett, Missouri State (1988-02)           319
Jill Hutchison, Illinois State (1983-99)                277
Tanya Warren, UNI (2008-present)                    249
 
Conference NET
The Valley ranks eighth nationally in the NCAA’s conference NET report (Jan. 11).  The Valley sits behind the SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12, Big East and American entering this week. 

The Valley finished the 2019-20 season with a league-best conference RPI of 8th.

Conference NET
1.    SEC
2.    ACC
3.    Big 12
4.    Big Ten
5.    Pac-12
6.    Big East
7.    American Athletic
8.     Missouri Valley

NET Update
The latest installment of the NCAA NET Report (Jan. 11) has five Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including four in the Top 75.  Missouri State leads the way at No. 27 with Illinois State (37), UNI (69), Drake (75) and Bradley (87), rounding out the schools in the Top 100.

The Valley joins the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC as the only leagues nationally with five teams in the NET Top 100.

Strength of Schedule
Two Valley teams have a SOS ranking in the Top 80 according to the NCAA (Jan. 11).  Missouri State leads The Valley with a SOS of No. 3.  UNI comes in this week ranked No. 63 and Drake No. 79.  

Four Valley teams rank in the Top 75 of “Average Opponent NET Rank” as well.  Missouri State sits No. 2 nationally with an average opponent NET ranking of 43, while UNI sits No. 11 (79), Bradley No. 61 (118) and Drake No. 71 (124).

BU: Strong Starts
Bradley is 3-1 or better to start Valley play for the second straight year and third time in the last four seasons.  This year’s performance to date marks the eighth time the Braves have started league play 3-1 or better and Bradley has consecutive seasons with a 3-1 or better beginning to conference action for the first time since Andrea Gorski’s sophomore (1989-90) and junior (1990-91) seasons.  Gorski has been a player or coach of the Braves for six of the eight seasons in which Bradley has had a 3-1 or better start to league play.    

DU: Chart Climber
With her eight assists in the two games against the Purple Aces, senior point guard Maddie Monahan moved to No. 8 all-time in career assists with 390. Monahan, who moved past Karlin Hayes (387) and Jan Krieger (389), needs five more dimes to move past her former teammate, Sammie Bachrodt (394) for seventh all-time. 

UE: Defense Holds Drake
Evansville became one of three teams to hold the Bulldogs to single digits in a quarter, doing so in both games in the series. On Thursday, the Aces allowed DU just nine second quarter points. Friday, Evansville limited Drake to a season-low six points in the first quarter. Creighton and Iowa State held Drake to nine and eight points respectively.

ILS: Dominant Defense
ISU held Indiana State to 32 points on Friday night, a program record for the fewest points allowed in a MVC game, in a decisive 62-32 win at the Hulman Center. The 32 points was also the fewest in an MVC game since Indiana State held Loyola Chicago to 32 during the 2016-17 season (53-32 Sycamore win). 

The Redbirds are now one of seven teams in the country to hold multiple opponents to under 40 points this year. This exclusive list also includes Arizona, Baylor, Campbell, Milwaukee, North Carolina and Rutgers.
 
INS: Struggles in Des Moines
Sycamore women’s basketball has a tall task in front of them this weekend when they travel to Des Moines, Iowa for a matchup with Drake. The Sycamores are 5-34 all-time in Des Moines and haven’t won at Drake since Mar. 6, 2014 when they earned a 73-71 victory. The last Sycamore win versus the Bulldogs anywhere came on Feb. 14, 2016 in Terre Haute, 68-53.    

LUC: Back in Action
After seeing this past weekend’s series with No. 25/25 Missouri State postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the Lady Bears program, Loyola will be back on the hardwood this weekend when it welcomes in-state foe Southern Illinois to Gentile Arena.  The Ramblers have been victorious in two of the last three matchups between the two teams in Rogers Park, including a 51-49 victory over the Salukis last season.  With two victories over the Salukis, Loyola can achieve its second 3-1 start to a Valley slate in as many seasons. 

MSU: Lady Bears MVC History
This season is Missouri State’s 29th in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Lady Bears have finished third or better in the final league standings 21 times in 28 seasons, including each of the last six years, winning 12 or more games each time. MSU is 47-7 in Valley play the last three seasons and 81-17 in the last 98 league contests.

UNI: #3 for 30
UNI’s Karli Rucker scored a career-high 32 points Friday in a 79-71 victory at Valparaiso. This was the first 30-point game in her career and the first such outing for UNI since Brittni Donaldson’s 34-point effort March 2, 2014 during a 99-97 overtime win at Drake.

SIU: 1,000 Points
Abby Brockmeyer scored her 1,000 career point on Saturday to become just the 28th Saluki in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau with her 11 points and nine rebounds in the loss. The senior from Raymond, Ill. is the sixth active Missouri Valley Conference player to reach the mark and is joined by her teammate Makenzie Silvey.

VALPO: Another Milestone Win
In her third season, head coach Mary Evans has led Valpo to many milestone wins, and Thursday’s win over UNI was another one. UNI entered the week ranked 66th in the NET, the program’s best victory by NET/RPI since a win over Purdue in December 2008. Three of Valpo’s last five MVC wins dating back to last season have come over top-100 NET/RPI teams after the program went nearly seven years between top-100 victories.

This week's Missouri Valley Conference Player and Newcomer of the Week are Bradley's Lasha Petree and Drake's Grace Berg. 

MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Lasha Petree, Jr., G, Bradley
Petree averaged a team-best 23.5 points per game as she helped power Bradley to its first sweep of the regular-season series against Southern Illinois since 2012-13.  The junior shot 53 percent from the field and was 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) from the free throw line in the two contests, while also averaging 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 blocks and 1.0 steals per game against the Salukis.  In the opener, she scored 23 points in just 24 minutes of action as she helped Bradley to its biggest win in the series since Feb. 2, 2013.  She followed up that performance with another game-high scoring effort (24 points) in Saturday’s win.  Petree had one of the most efficient games of her career, hitting 8-of-11 from the field, while also collecting four boards, three assists, three blocks and a steal.  Now just the fifth junior to reach 1,100 career points in Bradley history, Petree passed former teammate Chelsea Brackmann for 14th on Bradley’s all-time scoring list.  

Other Notable Performances: Abby Feit (UE); JuJu Redmond (ILS); Karli Rucker (UNI); Makenzie Silvey (SIU); Shay Frederick (VALPO)
 
MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK:
Grace Berg, RSo., F, Drake
Drake’s Grace Berg averaged 19.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the floor and 85.7 percent (6-of-7) from the free throw line in two big wins over Evansville. Berg had an outstanding game in the finale with a career-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the floor. She has already recorded four 20-plus scoring games in her first season. Berg is averaging 15.8 points per game which is tied for second in the MVC while shooting 49.3 percent from the floor and 89.5 percent from the free throw line. Both of her shooting percentages rank second in the Valley.  

Other Notable Performances: Chloe Rice (BRAD); Rylie Stephens (UE); Terrion Moore (ILS)