Non-Con Rolls On
The Valley enters the week with a 35-30 mark in non-conference action after going 14-9 over the holiday week. Valley teams went 10-7 in MTE action, highlighted by UNI’s 2-0 mark at the Cancun Challenge with wins over Tulane and Vanderbilt.
This week’s schedule features 15 games, with eight of those coming at home.
1,000 Point Club
The Valley now has seven active players in the 1,000 point club. With her 15-point performance versus Tulane, Kam Finley became UNI’s 28th 1,000-point scorer.
Current MVC Players in 1,000 Point Club
1,751 - Macey Turley, Murray State
1,246 - Abby Feit, Evansville
1,219 - Sydni Harvey, Belmont
1,094 - Katelyn Young, Murray State
1,067 - Destinee Wells, Belmont
1,036 - Aniya Thomas, Missouri State
1,008 - Kam Finley, UNI
BEL: Strenuous Stretch
Belmont picked up its first MTE (multi-team event) win since November of 2017 with a 78-68 victory over Saint Louis Saturday at the 2022 Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Florida.
Following a strenuous five-game stretch away from home, the Bruins return to the Music City Sunday when Belmont hosts Georgia Tech at the Curb Event Center. It will be the second of consecutive Sunday meetings between the Bruins and the Yellow Jackets after Georgia Tech earned a tightly contested 58-52 win over Belmont Sunday afternoon on the final day of the Gulf Coast Showcase.
BU: Hold Off Spartans
In its lone game of the week, Bradley Women’s Basketball shook off a Missouri Baptist lead as late as the 6:00 mark of the fourth quarter, prevailing by a 66-46 final score. The Braves made their second-most field goals (21) and rebounds (41) of the season thus far. After the Spartans had out-scored Bradley in the second and third quarters, the Braves’ offense opened up in the fourth quarter, besting Missouri Baptist by a 27-7 margin.
DU: High Scoring Bulldogs
Drake returned home from a 1-1 weekend at the 2022 FIU Thanksgiving Classic. The Bulldogs picked up a dominant 97-60 win over Howard in the tournament’s consolation matchup after dropping an overtime thriller to the Atlantic 10 Conference preseason favorite and 2022 NCAA Tournament qualifier UMass. Drake has been clicking offensively through their early non-conference schedule with an average of 85.2 points per contest, the fifth-most in Division I women’s basketball. The Bulldogs will return to the court on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 11 a.m. against Lindenwood in Des Moines.
UE: Playing as a Team
In Evansville’s 97-72 win over Miami (Ohio), it was truly a team effort that propelled the Aces to victory. Six Aces finished in double-figures in scoring, the first time a UE team has achieved that feat since Dec. 14, 2017. Both Abby Feit and Barbora Tomancova tallied double doubles in the win, marking the first duo to do that since Feit and Anna Newman did so on Dec. 29, 2020.
UIC: 6-1 Start
The Flames faced four straight games that they were playing a brand new opponent. The Flames managed to go 3-1 during that stretch, including a 2-1 mark at the Hostilo Hoops Community Classic. Sitting at 6-1 overall, the Flames have the best start to the season since the 2015-2016 season.
ILS: Program Best
The Redbirds are off to their best program start in program history, sitting at 5-1. The Redbirds have gone 5-1 to start a season in five previous instances, most recently to begin the 2019-20 campaign. Illinois State stood 5-0 on the season for the first time since 1973-74.
Graduate student Mary Crompton would have a record-breaking performance against the Lady Techsters of Louisiana Tech. As the Iowa City native would shoot 5-8 behind the arc, she would break Kristi Cirone’s program record of 229 career three-pointers. Through six games, Crompton sits at 232 for her ISU career.
INS: Extra Possessions
Indiana State has continued its trend from last season of being a strong offensive rebounding team, as the Sycamores have grabbed double-digit offensive rebounds in three of the first four games this season. The Trees rank third in offensive rebounding in the conference, grabbing 13.3 per game, with a season high of 20 against Saint Louis. Indiana State has converted those extra possessions to the tune of 11.8 second chance points per game.
MOST: Tough on the Boards
Missouri State ranks in the top 100 nationally in multiple rebounding categories, including offensive rebounds per game (20th – 16.2), rebound margin (67th – 7.0) and rebounds per game (91st – 40.8). The Lady Bears’ 16.2 offensive boards per game rank first in The Valley. Local product and JUCO transfer Indya Green is MSU’s leading rebounder as she is pulling down 7.8 rebounds per game this season, which also ranks fifth in the MVC.
MUR: Under 40
The 36 points allowed by the Racers against Alabama A&M Saturday marked the first time since they limited Southeast Missouri to 34 in 2011 that MSU has held a Division I opponent under 40 points.
UNI: Perfect in Paradise
The Panthers were two for two at the Cancun Challenge in Mexico this week, bringing their record in the tournament to 3-1. UNI had a big win over Tulane to start the tournament, cruising past the Green Wave 82-60. The Panthers also had their first Power 5 win in three years after guard Emerson Green sank a last second three to beat Vanderbilt 65-63.
SIU: Bond-White Gets 1st Win
Southern Illinois went 1-1 at the Christmas City Classic this past weekend at Lehigh University as they beat the host Mountain Hawks on Saturday for SIU’s first win of the year and the first as a head coach for Kelly Bond-White. The Salukis finished runner-up as they fell to Kent State on Sunday in the tournament final. SIU plays at home Thursday against Chicago State.
VU: Doubling Up
Combining her scoring and rebounding, Leah Earnest registered three double-doubles through the season’s first four games (20 PTS/10 REB at CMU, 14 PTS/11 REB vs EIU, 13 PTS/13 REB vs UAB) after recording just two combined in her first two seasons. Earnest is the first player in program history to tally three double-doubles in the first four games of a season. She already has as many double-doubles this season as the entire Valpo team did last season - in fact, Valpo has not tallied more than three double-doubles as a team in any of the last three years.
HerHoopStats Stat of the Week
UIC’s Josie Filer is one of just three players nationally shooting at least 60% on two-pointers and 45% on three-pointers while attempting at least 50 twos and 10 threes this season.
