Halfway Home (Mostly...)
Four of the 10 Valley women’s basketball teams hit the midway point of the conference season last week, with the other six having rescheduled contests due to COVID protocol in the second half of the schedule.
 
Southern Illinois sits at the top of the standings at 6-1 and will play Indiana State and Missouri State twice in the second half of the league schedule due to COVID rescheduling.

Illinois State sits second at 7-2, marking the Redbirds best start to Valley play since opening the 2009-10 season 15-1 in league play.

Missouri State (6-2), UNI (5-2) and Indiana State (4-2) also sit with only two losses in league play entering the second half of the league season. 

Winning at Halfway Point
Over the past 19 seasons, teams that have won or shared the regular-season title in the MVC have reached the halfway point of the league season with at least eight wins 17 times (18 total teams). Four times – DU in 2008, CU in 2003 and MSU in 2012 and 1999 – teams have had as many as three losses and gone on to the regular-season title. 

Year      Team(s)    Through 9 Games    Final
2021    Missouri State    9-0    16-0, 1st
2020    Missouri State    8-1    16-2, 1st
2019    Drake                 8-1    17-1, 1st
2018    Drake                 9-0    18-0, 1st
2017    Drake                 9-0    18-0, 1st
            UNI                    8-1    15-3, 2nd
2016    UNI                    7-2    15-3, 1st
            Drake                 7-2    14-4, T-2nd
            Missouri State    7-2    14-4, T-2nd
2015    Drake                 9-0    15-3, 2nd
            Wichita State      8-1    17-1, 1st
            UNI                     7-2    12-6, 4th
2014    Wichita State      9-0    14-4, T-1st
            Indiana State      7-2    14-4, T-1st
2013    Wichita State      9-0    15-3, T-1st
            Creighton            8-1    15-3, T-1st
2012    Missouri State    6-3    14-4, 1st
2011    UNI                     8-1    17-1, 1st
2010    Illinois State        8-1    16-2, 1st
2009    Illinois State        8-1    15-3, 1st
2008     Drake                 6-3    13-5, T-1st
             Evansville          7-2    13-5, T-1st
             Illinois State        8-1    13-5, T-1st
2007     Southern Illinois  8-1    16-2, 1st
2006     Indiana State       9-0    16-2, 1st
2005     Missouri State    8-1    15-3, 1st
2004     Missouri State    9-0    16-2, 1st
2003     Creighton           6-3    13-5, T-1st
               Indiana State    8-1    13-5, T-1st

Something to Prove
Southern Illinois was predicted to finish eighth in the MVC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll and is looking to make history down the stretch.  Only twice in league history has a team picked sixth or lower gone on to win the MVC regular season women’s basketball race. 

Team (Year)                           Rec.    Poll
Southern Illinois (2006-07)    16-2    T-7th
Creighton (2001-02)               16-2    6th

Warren Moving Up
UNI Head Coach Tanya Warren continues her pursuit up The Valley list for coaching wins in league contests. Warren currently sits fourth on the all-time list with 169 Valley wins, sitting one win behind Illinois State’s Jill Hutchison.

MOST COACHING WINS (MVC GAMES)
Name, School                             (Years)     Wins
Cheryl Burnett, Missouri State (1988-02)   201
Cindy Scott, Southern Illinois   (1983-98)   199
Jill Hutchison, Illinois State       (1983-99)   170
Tanya Warren, UNI             (2008-present) 169

MOST COACHING WINS (ALL GAMES)
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)            272

ESPN Bracketology
The latest ESPN.com women’s basketball bracketology from Charlie Creme (Feb. 1) has two MVC teams in the field of 64. Southern Illinois represents The Valley’s AQ and is a 13 seed at No. 4 seed Kansas State. Missouri State is a No. 10 seed playing Ohio State at Tennessee.  

The MVC is one of just nine leagues receiving multiple bids, joining the Power Five leagues, American, Big East and Ivy League. 

Elite Defense
Missouri State enters the week currently ranking in the top 10 nationally in three defensive categories, including:  Field Goal Percentage Defense (6th, 34.3%), Scoring Defense (4th, 50.9 ppg) and Three-Point Field Goal Defense (2nd, 22.6%). 

The Lady Bears are the only team nationally ranking in the top 10 in all three of those categories.  The Lady Bears also sit 19th nationally in blocks per game (5.2) and 21st in rebounds per game (42.7). 

Holding Below
Missouri State has held 16 of its possible 18 opponents under their scoring average entering their games against the Lady Bears. Across all 18 games so far this season, the Lady Bears are holding opponents to an average of 18.2 points below their points per game mark entering the contest with MSU. Missouri State has held eight opponents to 20+ points below their scoring average prior to facing the Lady Bears.

NET Update
The NCAA NET Report (Jan. 31) has six Valley teams that rank in the top-130.  Missouri State leads the way at No. 35 with UNI (52), Drake (83), Southern Illinois (96), Loyola Chicago (115) and Illinois State (128) rounding out the schools in the Top 130.  The Valley sits 10th as a league. 

HerHoopStats.com Stat of the Week
Valparaiso has had six games this season where they made 11 three-pointers with a 3P% of at least 40%. That’s tied for second-most in Division I this season.



BU: Koenig Streaks
Bradley senior guard Tatum Koenig continues to step up her offensive numbers in the absence of Gabi Haack … Koenig, who had scored in double figures in 20 of her first 98 career games before Haack’s injury, now has scored at least 10 points in seven of the eight games in Haack’s absence, including a career-long streak of five straight double-digit scoring efforts heading into Friday’s game versus Indiana State … Koenig has averaged 13.9 ppg in Bradley’s last eight games … Koenig also owns the team’s longest active streak by making a 3-pointer in eight consecutive games.

DU: Assist U
Drake continues to be one of the top assist teams in the nation, entering this week ranking 8th nationally with 18.8 assists per game. The Bulldogs have finished the last five seasons ranking top five nationally in assists per game, including leading the nation in 2020-21 and 2017-18.  The last time Drake did not finish a season ranked in the top five nationally was in 2015-16 (finished 6th). 

UE: At the Line
After exceeding 70% from the charity strip just three times in non-conference play, the Aces have found greater success at the line in conference play. Over the last six games, Evansville has finished with a free-throw percentage of 70% or higher four times, including an 18-20 (90%) effort at the line on Saturday against SIU.

ILS: Bullman Breaking Through
Illinois State sophomore forward Kate Bullman has been a real spark for ISU during conference play, starting in all nine games and averaging 6.3 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per MVC contest (in comparison to her 1.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.5 blocks averaged during ISU’s non-conference slate). Bullman is the Redbirds’ top defender and has recorded a league-best 24 blocks during Valley play.

INS: High Octane
Indiana State has hit its stride on the offensive end since conference play began. The Sycamores lead the Valley in scoring during conference play at 70.2 points per game and are the only team in the conference averaging 70 points per game in MVC play. Included in that statistic is an 85-point game against Valpo, which is the highest point total for the Sycamores against a Division I opponent this season and the most in a conference game for ISU since February 2021. Indiana State has three players averaging at least 13 points per game during conference play (Del’Janae Williams, Marie Hunter and Natalia Lalic), with five others also averaging at least five points per game against Valley foes.

LUC: House Party
This past Friday’s 62-48 win over Valparaiso saw Loyola move to 8-1 (.889) in games played within the friendly confines of Gentile Arena this season.  That mark matches the best nine-game start to a home campaign in 36 years, when the 1985-86 Ramblers picked up wins in nine of their first 10 contests playing in historic Alumni Gym. 

MSU: Historic Win
Missouri State’s 47-point victory at Evansville on Thursday was the largest MVC margin of victory for the Lady Bears since Feb. 21, 2004 (54 vs. SIU, 89-35) and the largest margin of victory in a true road game since Feb. 20, 1999 (47 at Bradley, 96-49).

In MSU’s victory at Evansville, the Lady Bears held Evansville to 9-for-47 from the field, which marked the first time Missouri State held an opponent to less than 10 made field goals since Nov. 24, 1989 vs. Chicago State (9-for-48).

UNI: Long Homestand
UNI will have a long homestand to start off February. The Panthers will play four games over the course of seven days starting on Wednesday. UNI will get just a day off in between games against Loyola, Valparaiso, and Evansville. The last time the Panthers had four games over seven days was the 2017-2018 postseason between the MVC Championship and the first WNIT tournament.  

SIU: Triple Threat
Southern Illinois currently has the top three scorers in The Valley in conference play this season.  Entering this week’s action, Makenzie Silvey leads the MVC, averaging 18.3 ppg, while Abby Brockmeyer sits second with a 17.0 ppg average and Gabby Walker third with a 15.4 ppg average.  

The trio is currently amassing 83.3% of the Salukis scoring output during conference games this season.

No team in Valley history has produced three of the top five scorers for an entire season. 

VU: Moving On Up
Senior guard Shay Frederick continued her march up Valpo’s all-time scoring leaders in Friday’s game at Loyola. Frederick scored 17 points against the Ramblers to give her 1,139 career points, in the process moving past Grace Hales for 12th place in program history. She sits 78 points shy of the program’s top-10 career scorers.