This week, the MVC schedule features 20 games, as the calendar turns to December.  Following Wednesday’s win over Purdue Fort Wayne, Evansville paces the league with a 4-1 record. The four wins prior to Thanksgiving Day are the most for the Aces since at least the 2001-02 season.  Drake’s 3-0 week improved the Bulldogs to 4-2 on the season, while Loyola’s pair of home wins moved the Ramblers to 4-2.  Missouri State also sits 4-2 on the season after going 1-1 against Power Five opponents in San Juan.

HerHoopStats Stat of the Week
The MVC is the only conference in the country with three players scoring at least 20 Points per Game while averaging at least 1.25 Points per Scoring Attempt.

Evansville’s Je’Naiya Davis (24.5 ppg, 1.32 ppsa), Bradley’s Gabi Haack (21.0 ppg, 1.25 ppsa) and Evansville’s Abby Feit (20.0 ppg, 1.25 ppsa) are among the 11 players nationally meeting the threshold (HerHoopsStats.com does not include Non-D1 games). 

No other conference has more than one player on the list. 


Power Road
Missouri State wrapped up a four-game stretch against Power Five opponents, all of which took place away from Springfield. Missouri State went 2-2 in the span, beating #24 Virginia Tech and USC, while falling to Oklahoma State and LSU.  The MVC currently sits 3-9 vs. Power Five teams this season. 

Top 25 Win
Behind 21 points and 12 rebounds from Jasmine Franklin, Missouri State knocked off No. 24 Virginia Tech, 76-68, in San Juan.  It marked the first top-25 win for the MVC this season (in four tries).  The Lady Bears are 6-4 vs. Top 25 teams in their last 10 tries.

Home Sweet Home
Currently five MVC teams remain unbeaten at home: Loyola (4-0), Evansville (3-0), Bradley (3-0), Missouri State (1-0) and Southern Illinois (0-0) have unblemished records on their home courts this season.  The Valley currently holds a 14-7 mark at home this season with 8 of the 21 games this week at home.  

Exclusive Company
By making a 3-pointer on the opening possession of Friday’s game at Minnesota, Bradley guard Gabi Haack joined exclusive company in NCAA Division I women’s basketball history. Haack finished Friday’s game with 302 career 3-pointers, 362 career free throws and 739 career rebounds.  Haack is the only active women’s basketball student-athlete in all three NCAA divisions to accumulate all three statistical thresholds, Haack is just the ninth NCAA Division I women’s basketball player in the 36-year history of the 3-point line to make 300 treys and 300 free throws, while also grabbing 700 rebounds.

Tourney Drought Ends
Drake captured its first in-season tournament title since 2016 by beating host Nevada, Idaho and San Francisco to win the Nugget Classic this past weekend. 

Freshman guard Katie Dinnebier was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while junior teammate Megan Meyer also was named to the all-tournament team.  

Davis Enters Rare Air
In an 84-71 win over Purdue Fort Wayne, junior guard Je’Naiya Davis recorded a performance that has not been completed in program history. Davis scored a career-high 35 points in just 22 minutes of action, the most by an Ace in a regular season game in program history. Davis’ scoring outburst is just the third of its kind in NCAA DI since 2008-09, matching a 40-point performance from UC Davis’ Morgan Bertsch in 22 minutes in  2018 and a 35-point performance in 22 minutes from Baylor’s three-time all-American Brittany Griner in 2012.

All-Tourney Selections
Junior DeAnna Wilson was named to the UCI Thanksgiving Classic All-Tournament Team after averaging 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds on the weekend. Wilson just missed a double-double in Friday’s action, finishing with 16 points and nine rebounds, while shooting 6-of-9 (66.7%) from the floor. The junior then went off for a career-high 21 points in Saturday’s game versus Sacramento State, scoring ISU’s first 10 points while grabbing six boards and three steals on the day.

Guarding the Arc
Indiana State’s defense put on a showcase effort this past weekend against Georgia Southern as the Sycamores topped the Eagles in the final game of the GATA Turkey Throwdown. The Sycamores held GS to a 0-for-14 performance from behind the three-point line to pick up a key nonconference win and snap a four-game losing streak. The scoreless effort from the three-point line marked the second time in the 2021-22 season Indiana State has held an opponent scoreless from deep this year. ISU also held Stephens (Mo.) to a 0-for-12 mark from the three-point line in the season opener. Currently, opponents are shooting 26.7% from the three-point line against Indiana State this year. 

Cleaning Crew
Loyola completed a clean sweep of a three-game homestand last week with wins over Saint Francis (Ill.), 96-61, and Miami (Ohio), 69-52.  The Ramblers turned in a dominant defensive effort in Sunday’s win over the RedHawks, holding a potent Miami attack to a season-low 52 points on 31.7 percent (19-for-60) shooting.  This week’s effort saw the Maroon & Gold move to a perfect 4-0 at Gentile Arena, where they are outscoring opponents by just under 22 points per game.

Franklin’s Domination
Senior Jasmine Franklin continues to have a dominant start to the 2021-22 season. Franklin currently has five double-doubles in six games to begin the season, which ranks third in the nation. She also leads the nation in defensive rebounds per game with 9.8, and places in the top 25 nationally in three other categories (blocks/game, rebound, and rebounds/game). Franklin is the only player in NCAA Division I averaging over 15.5 ppg, 13.5 rpg, 2 spg and 2 bpg and just racked up her third consecutive Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week honor. 

Strong Second
The Panthers had their best second quarter of the season so far this Saturday against the Creighton Bluejays. UNI scored 26 points in the quarter while shooting 56% from the floor, 50% from 3-point range, and 87% from the free throw line. 

Time to Return
SIU’s non-conference game against IUPUI, originally scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 24 was postponed due to COVID-19-related concerns within the Jaguars program. The Salukis finally return to action against SEMO on Tuesday. SIU’s last game was on November 14 at UMKC.

Suiting Up Again & Again
Sixth-year forward Caitlin Morrison cracked Valpo’s career top-10 for games played last time out at UIC. Morrison made her 117th appearance in the Valpo uniform on Tuesday, matching Carie Wickham and Marlous Nieuwveen for the 10th-most games played in program history. Morrison, who has started in 113 of her 117 appearances, is just eight games shy of reaching Kathryn Knoester’s program record of 125 career games played.

Polling
MSU is continuing to receive votes in this week’s AP Top 25 and USA Today/WBCA Coaches Top 25. The Lady Bears received one vote in the AP poll this week, while receiving six votes in the USA Today/WBCA Coaches poll.