Following Sunday’s games, The Valley women’s basketball schedule is halfway home as 10 of the 20 league games are complete. 

Illinois State sits at the top of the standings at 9-1, marking the Redbirds best start to Valley play since opening the 2009-10 season 15-1. UNI sits one game back of first place at 8-2 in MVC play.  Belmont, Drake and Missouri State all sit two games behind the Redbirds at 7-3 at the midway point.   

Winning at Halfway Point
Over the past 20 seasons, teams that have won or shared the regular-season title in the MVC have reached the halfway point of the league season with one loss or fewer 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. 

Nothing But NET
The NCAA NET Report (Jan. 30) has four Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including six of the 12 sitting in the top 130.  Drake leads the way at No. 54 with UNI (65), Illinois State (84) and Belmont (92), rounding out the schools in the Top 100. Missouri State (102) and Murray State (129) rank in the top 130.  
 
Only eight leagues have six or more teams in the Top 125 of the NET (ACC, American, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, MVC, Pac-12 and SEC).

Sharing the Rock
Drake enters the week currently leading the nation in assists per game, averaging 20.8 per game. 

NCAA Assist Leaders
1  Drake (MVC)           20.8
2  UConn (Big East)    20.6
3  Oklahoma (Big 12) 20.4
4  Iowa (Big Ten)        20.2

Warren’s Climb to the Top
UNI Head Coach Tanya Warren continues her pursuit to becoming the MVC’s all-time leader in games coached.   Warren coached her 503rd game Saturday at Southern Illinois. 

MOST GAMES COACHED
Name, School                             (Years)         Games
Cindy Scott, Southern Illinois   (1983-98)       506
Tanya Warren, UNI             (2008-present)     503
Jill Hutchison, Illinois State       (1983-99)       501

Sharpshooter
Illinois State’s Mary Crompton continues her move up The Valley career three-point field goal list.  The graduate student sits 6th on The Valley’s all-time list. Crompton is one triple away from MSU’s Kari Koch for 5th on The Valley list and is eight away from moving all alone into third position. 

3-Point Field Goals Made (Career)
    1.    314 - Gabi Haack, Bradley    2017-22
    2.    294 - Dayna Finch, Creighton    2001-04
    3.    277 - Rishonda Napier, Southern Illinois    2014-17
    4.     276 - Brittany Schoen, Indiana State    2008-12
    5.    271 - Kari Koch, Missouri State    2002-06
    6.    270 - Mary Crompton, Illinois State    2018-pres.

Double Trouble
Entering this week, UNI’s Grace Boffeli leads The Valley in double-doubles with eight so far this season.  Boffeli ranks fourth in The Valley in scoring at 16.1 ppg, while leading the league in rebounds per game (8.5).

Number of Double-Double games
8 Boffeli, Grace - UNI
7 Young, Katelyn - Murray St.
7 Earnest, Leah - Valparaiso
6 Taylor, Kennedy - Missouri St.
5 Bair, Maggie - Drake
5 Wilson, DeAnna - Illinois St.
5 Green, Indya - Missouri St.

30 Something
Murray State’s Katelyn Young notched her fourth 30-point outing over the weekend, scoring 30 in Sunday’s loss at Indiana State.  Young has accounted for four of the league’s eight 30-point games this season, while also leading the way with 10 20-point outings this season. 

Number of 30-Point games
4 Young, Katelyn - Murray St.
1 Harvey, Sydni - Belmont
1 Jones, Ashley - Southern Ill.
1 Robinson, Paige - Illinois St.
1 Saunders, Ali - Valparaiso

Number of 20-Point games
10 Young, Katelyn - Murray St.
9 Robinson, Paige - Illinois St.
8 Wells, Destinee - Belmont
6 Jones, Ashley - Southern Ill.
6 Feit, Abby - Evansville
5 Bartley, Madison - Belmont
4 Boffeli, Grace - UNI
4 Crompton, Mary - Illinois St.
4 McDermott, Maya - UNI
4 Filer, Josie - UIC

HerHoopStats.com Stat of the Week
Katie Dinnebier of Drake is the only player in Division I this season to record at least 10 points, 14 assists, and five steals in a single game.  Dinnebier posted that stat line on Jan. 26th at Southern Illinois.  No other MVC player has reached that mark in the Her Hoop Stats era (since 2009-10).


BEL: Bruins Getting Hot
After starting 3-7, Belmont has gone 8-3 in its last 11 games. The Bruins are over .500 for the first time since beginning the season 1-0. During the current four-game win streak, Belmont has held its last four opponents to 35 percent shooting or less and its last three opponents under 60 points.Madison Bartley has led Belmont in scoring each of the last four games.

BU: Close at the ARC
The Braves had a stellar shooting game Sunday at Valpo, going 50% from the floor. Caroline Waite led the way for Bradley with 23 points, three rebounds, three assists and one steal. Alex Rouse chipped in 17 points, along with five rebounds and two assists. Callie Ziebell snagged her first ever double-double. Ziebell finished the game with 10 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and one steal. 

DU: Crowded at the Top
The Drake Bulldogs went on the road and split a pair of important MVC contests. Drake opened the weekend with an 87-73 victory at Southern Illinois (1/26) in which the Bulldogs overcame a first-period deficit to outrun the Salukis. The Bulldogs then suffered a 64-54 loss in a physical battle at Missouri State (1/28). Drake is now 7-3 in conference play, one of three teams tied with that mark in MVC action. The Bulldogs will travel to rival UNI on Wednesday, Feb. 1 with a chance to avenge the last-second loss earlier this season and climb the standings.

UE: Feit Behind the Arc
Over the last four weeks, senior guard/forward Abby Feit has been on a special run. Feit has hit two-or-more three-pointers in nine-straight games, including a pair of contests with four made threes. Since the start of MVC play, Feit has hit 25 triples and is shooting 41.7% from beyond the arc.

UIC: Quick Turnaround
UIC enters the week at 12-9 overall and 4-6 in Valley play.  The win totals are the most wins in a season for the Flames since 2015-16 when UIC finished 12-18.  The four conference wins are the most for the program since going 6-10 in Horizon League play during the 2014-15 season. 

ILS: Impressive Win
The 32-point win over the Beacons Friday tied the largest margin of regular season victory in MVC play for ISU under Kristen Gillespie; the margin of victory was also the second straight game for ISU to finish 78-46 (v. Evansville on 1/22/23 & at Valpo on 1/27/23).  For the 34th time, and 21st time against an MVC foe under Kristen Gillespie, the Redbirds held an opponent to score single digits in the first quarter. As they held Valparaiso to six first-quarter points Friday, the Redbirds move to 27-7 all-time when allowing single digits in the first 10 minutes. 

INS: Comeback Kids
Of Indiana State’s four MVC wins this season, two have involved the Sycamores overcoming a double-digit deficit spearheaded by Del’Janae Williams. The Trees rallied from a 10-point deficit in the second quarter to defeat Murray State 62-56 in their last game, with Williams dropping a team-high 24 points against the Racers. Williams had a season-high 25 in a come-from-behind win over Valparaiso earlier in January, as the Sycamores overcame an 11-point deficit to win that game 66-58.

MOST: Hot Stretch
Freshman Jade Masogayo has hit her stride recently as she owns a .750 field goal percentage (30-for-40) over the last six games. Against UNI, she went 6-for-6 from the field to become the first Lady Bear to shoot 100 percent from the field (min. 6 FGA) since Abby Hipp went 7-for-7 at Boise State on Nov. 10, 2019. She then started the next game against Drake with a 5-for-5 first-half outing to mark 11-straight made field goals.

MUR:  Milestones Reached
Macey Turley became just the third Racer in program history to reach 500 assists Sunday. Her six assists against Indiana State puts her currently at 505 for her career and just eight away from becoming the program’s all-time leader in the category.
 
Alexis Burpo also reached a milestone Sunday by becoming the eighth racer in the history of the program to reach 800 career rebounds. With five rebounds against the Sycamores, Burpo now has 803 career rebounds.

UNI: Scoring Explosion
UNI scored a season high in Saturday’s 94-81 win at Southern Illinois.  The Panthers had three players top 20 points Emerson Green (26 points), Grace Boffeli (24) and Maya McDermott (21) each topped 20 points in the win. The three 20-point scorers represent the best single-game total for the Panthers since February 18, 2001 (99-80 win over #15/#13 Southwest Missouri State). Abbi Schutte - 30; Kary Dawson - 27; Amy Swisher - 25.

SIU: Efficient Shooting
The Salukis shot efficiently this past week in their pair of losses to Drake and Northern Iowa. Against the Bulldogs, Southern Illinois shot 40.9% from deep and were led by Ashley Jones and Aja Holmes. Jones shot 4-of-8 from three-point range, while Holmes went 4-for-6. On Saturday versus Northern Iowa, the Salukis shot 52.4% from the field despite the defeat. In three of the four quarters, SIU shot at least 50%, and shot 60% in two of them.

VU: Career Performance
Senior Olivia Brown was simply stellar on Sunday in Valpo’s win over Bradley. Brown scored a game-high 24 points to match her career high and did so in super-efficient fashion, going 8-of-10 from the floor, including 6-of-8 from 3-point range. It is the second time in MVC play Brown has hit 6-of-8 from deep, matching her performance at Belmont, to once again tie her for seventh on Valpo’s single-game 3-point percentage chart. Brown’s efficiency resulted in her having a 110% effective field goal percentage - per HerHoopStats.com, Brown is one of just nine players nationally to score 24 or more points in a game with an effective field goal percentage of 110% or better this season.