Belmont (2-0), Murray State (2-0), Missouri State (2-0), UNI (2-0) and Southern Illinois (2-0) remain perfect after the first weekend of league play. Belmont and Murray State will put their undefeated MVC records on the line Friday and Sunday at Drake and UNI, while Missouri State and Southern Illinois will host Bradley and Illinois State. Missouri State sits 2-0 for the sixth-straight season.
An audio replay of today’s (Jan. 3, 2023) Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball coaches media ZOOM is available.
Quick Starts Crucial
Since 1982-83, just three teams (Missouri State, champions in 1998-99, 1994-95 and 1990-91; Drake, champions in 1996-97 and co-champions in 1987-88; and Evansville, a 2007-08 co-champion) have won at least a share of the regular-season title without winning its regular-season opener. In fact, 17 of the last 22 regular-season champs (or co-champs) have opened 2-0 or better in MVC play, with Evansville in 2007-08, Missouri State in 2004-05, UNI in 2010-11, Missouri State in 2011-12 and UNI in 2015-16 serving as the only five exceptions.
NET Update
The NCAA NET Report (Jan. 1) has four Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including seven of the 12 sitting in the top 155. Drake leads the way at No. 57 with UNI (67), Murray State (87) and Belmont (90), rounding out the schools in the Top 100. Illinois State (101), Missouri State (123) and UIC (155) rank in the top 155. The Valley ranks 12th as a league.
Mid-Major Top-25 Poll
Drake, Illinois State and Northern Iowa appear in this week’s CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 (Dec. 27). Drake is at No. 7 in the poll, while Illinois State comes in at No. 16 and UNI at No. 19. Belmont, UIC and Murray State are receiving votes this week.
ESPN Announces Tip Time for MVC Title Game
ESPN officially announced the start time for the championship game of Hoops in the Heartland that will be televised Sunday, March 12 on ESPNU. The title game will tip at 1PM CT.
BEL: 2-0 Valley Start
Belmont is off to a 2-0 start in conference play for the sixth time in 11 seasons. The Bruins have began league play 2-0 a total of 10 times in Belmont’s NCAA era. Junior forward Madison Bartley registered just her second career double-double in Belmont’s win over the Flames, tallying 18 points and 10 rebounds. Both of her double-doubles have been achieved on New Year’s Day as she began 2022 with 21 points and 14 rebounds in a road victory at Eastern Illinois.
BU: League Play Underway
Bradley opened MVC play with a pair of league games over the weekend. The Braves played well in the first half of both contests, leading UNI 35-30 and trailing Drake 35-30. Alex Rouse led Bradley in each game, scoring 16 points in the loss to the Panthers and 12 points vs. Drake.
DU: New Year, New Bulldogs
Drake opened their MVC season with a split on the road. The Bulldogs could not come back after falling behind early at Illinois State (12/30). They overcame another sluggish start to hammer Bradley in the second half on their way to a 29-point victory. Despite their success on the court, the Bulldogs also received unfortunate news. Senior guard Megan Meyer suffered a torn ACL and will miss the remainder of the 2022-23 season. Meyer, the 2021-22 MVC Newcomer of the Year and a 2022-23 Preseason All-MVC honoree, averaged 12.9 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.8 assists while shooting 43.3% from the field and 33.3% from three-point range in 29.1 minutes per game this season.
UE: Clark’s Consistency
Clark Continues Consistency in Conference Opening MVC play, fifth-year guard Myia Clark continued to show her consistency between non-conference and MVC play. Through two Valley games, Clark is averaging 21.5 points per game, compared to her 13.2 point per game average overall. Last season, Clark saw little drop-off in her scoring once entering MVC action, averaging 12.4 points per game in non-conference and 12.0 points per game in MVC play.
UIC: Getting to the Line
Although losing to the Belmont Bruins 72-59 on New Years Day, the Flames accomplished a new season high from the charity stripe. Led by forward Jaida McCloud accomplishing her career high in free throws at 15-for-18, the team went 25-for-28 in the game with a 89.3% success rate. This surpassed their original season high of 85% in their 66-62 defeat to the Northwestern Wildcats back on Dec. 14.
ILS: Welcome to the Club!
Graduate student Mary Crompton became the 30th ISU WBB athlete to reach the 1,000-point mark on Friday, December 30 versus Drake. With a three-pointer at 3:08 in the third quarter, Crompton notched her 17th point of the game and submitted herself as only the second Redbird (Juliunn Redmond) to achieve 1,000 career points under the direction of Kristen Gillespie.
INS: Crashing the Glass
Indiana State was plus-15 in rebound margin (49-34) in its last game against Southern Illinois, its largest rebound margin of the season and best rebound margin in a game since Feb. 12, 2022 at Evansville (50-32, plus-18). The Sycamores grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and converted those into 13 second chance points. Mya Glanton and Adrian Folks both had 11 rebounds, marking the first time the Sycamores had teammates with double-digit rebounds in the same game since Feb. 12, 2022 at Evansville (Tonysha Curry 13, Arianna Smith 11).
MOST: Impressive Line
Aniya Thomas added her name to the Missouri State record book over the weekend, as she posted 27 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six steals in MSU’s victory at Evansville on Saturday afternoon. Thomas’ stat line of a double-double with at least five assists and five steals was just the fourth of its kind in program history, a feat that was last accomplished by Tyonna Snow against Illinois State on Jan. 1, 2016.
MUR: From Start to Finish
For the sixth time this season and for the fourth consecutive game, Murray State’s opponents led for under one minute of the contest. The Beacons led for just 22 seconds of Sunday’s game, with the Racers leading for over 37 minutes. Of the six games in which Murray State’s opponent led for less than 60 seconds, only Kentucky and Valpo did not allow the Racers to lead wire-to-wire.
UNI: Right on Track
For the first time since 2017, the Panthers started MVC play 2-0 on the road with wins against Bradley and Illinois State. UNI started conference play on the road in 2021 as well but went 1-1 with an initial loss to Valparaiso and then a win over Loyola later that week. In 2017, the Panthers went 8-1 to start Valley play with their win streak being snapped by Drake in double overtime at the end of January. UNI will look to go 4-0 in MVC play this week with upcoming contests against Valley newcomers Murray State and Belmont.
SIU: Extends Valley Opening Streak
Southern Illinois went 2-0 to start Missouri Valley Conference play for the third-straight season as they’ve now won 10-straight MVC openers and 10-straight in Terre Haute, Ind., after taking down Evansville on Thursday and the Sycamores on Saturday. SIU hosts Bradley on Thursday where the Salukis drop their banner for their 2021-22 MVC Regular Season Championship, along with their WNIT Tournament appearance last season.
VU: A Return Home
Valpo’s return to its home floor of the ARC on Thursday evening against Evansville has been a long time coming. The Beacons’ last home game came way back on December 7, when they hosted Western Michigan. The 29 days between home games is the longest stretch between regular season home games for Valpo since the 1999-2000 team went 35 days between playing Eastern Michigan at the ARC on Dec. 9 and Oakland at home on Jan. 13.
HerHoopStats Stat of the Week
Katelyn Young of Murray State is one of two players in Division I who are averaging at least 15 points per game while shooting at least 55% on two-pointers, 35% on three-pointers, and 90% from the free-throw line. Young joins UConn’s Azzi Fudd on the short list.
