Four of the MVC’s 12 teams are within one game of first place entering this week’s schedule. UNI and Illinois State are tied for first, while Belmont and Missouri State are tied for third one game back. Only the Ivy League, Southern Conference and Sun Belt have four teams within a game of the league lead entering play Tuesday.
The top two teams, UNI and Illinois State, will face off Thursday at 6PM CT in Cedar Falls on ESPN+, while Belmont and Missouri State will face off Sunday in Springfield at 2PM CT on ESPN+.
NOTEBOOK (PDF)
Streaks-a-Plenty
Belmont, Missouri State and UNI each enter the week riding winning streaks of five or better. The first place Panthers have won five-straight, while Belmont has won eight-straight and Missouri State seven in a row.
The Valley is one of just three leagues nationally to have three teams riding winning streaks of 5+ entering this week, joining the Atlantic 10 (Rhode Island 12, UMass 10, Saint Louis 5) and Mid-American Conference (Bowling Green 11, Ball State 9, Toledo 7).
Homecourt Advantage
While the league’s overall homecourt record is a pedestrian 45-39 (53.6 percent), notably the five teams with winning records in league play have combined for a 28-6 record at home (82.4 percent). Three of the five (Drake, UNI, Missouri State) sit 5-1, Belmont is 7-1 and Illinois State is 6-2.
Nothing But NET
The NCAA NET Report (Feb. 12) 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. 60 with UNI (64), Belmont (87) and Illinois State (89), rounding out the schools in the Top 100. Missouri State (106) and Murray State (130) rank in the top 130.
Only eight leagues have six or more teams in the Top 130 of the NET (ACC, American, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, MVC, Pac-12 and SEC.)
Record Turnaround
UIC head coach Ashleen Bracey’s current 14-11 overall record represents a 12-win improvement from UIC’s previous season under Tasha Pointer (2-25). Bracey now holds The Valley record for the best win-based turnaround by a new coach in MVC Women’s Basketball history.
Warren’s Climb to the Top
UNI Head Coach Tanya Warren finished her pursuit of becoming the MVC’s all-time leader in games coached Sunday at Valpo. Warren coached her record-setting 507th game, passing SIU’s Cindy Scott.
Warren also became the third coach in Valley history to join the 300-win club along with Cindy Scott of Southern Illinois and Cheryl Burnett of Missouri State.
MOST COACHING WINS (ALL GAMES) (Since 1982-83)
Name, School (Years) No.
Cindy Scott, Southern Illinois (1983-98) 353
Cheryl Burnett, Missouri State (1988-02) 319
Tanya Warren, UNI (2008- present) 300
Sharpshooter
Illinois State’s Mary Crompton continues her move up The Valley career three-point field goal list. The graduate student moved into 3rd on The Valley’s all-time list Friday. Crompton passed Rishonda Napier of SIU and is 13 triples shy of second place.
3-Point Field Goals Made (Career)
1. 314 - Gabi Haack, Bradley 2017-22
2. 294 - Dayna Finch, Creighton 2001-04
3. 281 - Mary Crompton, Illinois State 2018-pres.
1,000 Point Club
The Valley has 14 active players in the 1,000 point club.
Current MVC Players in 1,000 Point Club
1,954 - Macey Turley, Murray State
1,520 - Abby Feit, Evansville
1,509 - Katelyn Young, Murray State
1,389 - Destinee Wells, Belmont
1,357 - Sydni Harvey, Belmont
1,306 - Aniya Thomas, Missouri State
1,183 - Grace Berg, Drake
1,181 - Myia Clark, Evansville
1,156 - Mary Crompton, Illinois State
1,129 - Kam Finley, UNI
1,129 - Chelsea Cain, Indiana State
1,085 - Sydney Wilson, Missouri State
1,008 - Del’Janae Williams, Indiana State
1,006 - Maggie Bair, Drake
Double Trouble
Entering this week, UNI’s Grace Boffeli and Murray State’s Katelyn Young lead The Valley in double-doubles with nine each. Boffeli ranks fifth in The Valley in scoring at 16.0 ppg, while leading the league in rebounds per game (8.7). Young leads the league in scoring (21.0 ppg) and ranks second in rebounds (8.1 rpg).
Number of Double-Double games
9 Young, Katelyn - Murray St.
9 Boffeli, Grace - UNI
8 Earnest, Leah - Valparaiso
7 Bair, Maggie - Drake
7 Taylor, Kennedy - Missouri St.
7 Wilson, DeAnna - Illinois St.
6 Green, Indya - Missouri St.
5 Tomancova, Barbora - Evansville
5 Feit, Abby - Evansville
30 Something
Murray State’s Katelyn Young leads The Valley with four 30+ point performances this season. Young has accounted for four of the league’s 10 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.
2 Robinson, Paige - Illinois St.
1 Harvey, Sydni - Belmont
1 Jones, Ashley - Southern Ill.
1 Saunders, Ali - Valparaiso
1 Wells, Destinee - Belmont
Number of 20-Point games
12 Young, Katelyn - Murray St.
12 Robinson, Paige - Illinois St.
9 Wells, Destinee - Belmont
9 Jones, Ashley - Southern Ill.
7 Bartley, Madison - Belmont
6 Feit, Abby - Evansville
6 Boffeli, Grace - UNI
4 Thomas, Aniya - Missouri St.
4 McDermott, Maya - UNI
4 Filer, Josie - UIC
4 Bair, Maggie - Drake
4 Crompton, Mary - Illinois St.
4 Clark, Myia - Evansville
BEL: Bruins Heating Up
Belmont is on a season-best eight-game winning streak. The Bruins’ average margin of victory over their last eight games is 21.6 points. Junior guard Destinee Wells has reached double figures in nine-straight games. Her 35-point performance Sunday versus the visiting Sycamores is Wells’ second 30-point outing of her career after scoring 32 in the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title game against UT Martin. Wells owns 11 career 25-point games and has reached 20 points on nine occasions this season.
BU: Career Highs
Bradley had two career highs set in its game against Southern Illinois. Isis Fitch pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds and scored 9 points. Freshman Reagan Barkema scored a career-high 10 points while going 2-2 from three.
DU: Milestone Reached
In their penultimate road trip of the 2022-23 regular season, the Drake Bulldogs split a pair of MVC contests to move to 14-8 overall and 9-5 in league play. The Bulldogs began the weekend with a convincing 71-54 win at Valpo (2/10). Drake finished the road swing with a physical loss at UIC (2/10) in which Maggie Bair reached a massive career milestone. On her birthday, and in her home state of Illinois, Bair scored 15 points to lead the Bulldogs and become the 36th player in Drake history to record 1,000-career points.
UE: Excels at the Line
Getting to the free-throw line at a high-rate and converting those trips have gone hand-in-hand for fifth-year guard Myia Clark. The Schaumburg, Ill. native has attempted over 100 free throws this season, a team-high, and has hit 83.3% of her attempts from the charity stripe, putting her inside the top 100 in the nation in free-throw percentage.
UIC: Journey to 1,000
The Flames frontcourt duo of Josie Filer and Jaida McCloud are each within reach of scoring 1,000 career points in their collegiate career. Filer, a graduate transfers, is 58 points away and is the leading scorer for UIC at 12.2 points per game. In her third season with the Flames, McCloud is 77 points away from the milestone and has led the team in scoring in 10 games this season.
ILS: Quest for 20
With 12 MVC wins thus far, Illinois State has matched their highest conference win total under Kristen Gillespie as the program continues their search to win 20 games in a season for the first time in her tenure as well. This week, Illinois State hits the road to Iowa for a two-game tilt, beginning with a battle against UNI on Thursday in Cedar Falls before they head to Des Moines to face the Drake Bulldogs Saturday.
INS: Sharp Shooting
Indiana State shot a season-best 63.5 percent from the field against Murray State, knocking down 33 of their 52 shots in the game. The Sycamores also connected on eight of their 13 3-point attempts. Indiana State shot better than 60 percent from the field in three of the four quarters, shooting better than 70 percent in both the first and fourth. The 63.5 percent clip from the field was Indiana State’s best in a game since Nov. 18, 2006 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and it was the Sycamores’ first game over 60 percent from the field since Nov. 28, 2016 at Eastern Illinois.
MOST: Streaking
Missouri State is currently on a seven-game win streak, and in that span the Lady Bears have held their opponents to an average of 62.4 points per game, 29.3 rebounds per game and a .245 (25-102) three-point field goal percentage. Missouri State is 9-0 this season when holding opponents to 60 points or less and 11-0 when scoring 70+ points. They also own a 16-2 record when collecting more assists than their opponent, meanwhile that record falls to 0-5 when their opponent has more assists.
MUR: All-Time Assist Leader
With her third assist of the game against Evansville, Macey Turley became the program’s new all-time leader in assists andcurrently sits at 515. The Murray native passed current Racer assistant coach and Murray State Hall of Famer Amber Guffey who set the previous record of 512.
UNI: Defensive Effort
UNIs defense had another big game against the Flames. The Panthers kept UIC scoreless for over 10 minutes on Friday including over eight minutes in the fourth quarter. UNI put up double-digit steals on Friday night and kept the Flames under their shooting averages, particularly behind the three-point line at -11.5.
SIU: Block Party
It was another strong week for Promise Taylor and the Salukis in terms of blocks. Taylor started the week with a three-block effort on Friday night against Illinois State, and followed that up with a four-block performance in Sunday’s win at Bradley. The center’s 63 blocks are the most in a single season in program history, while her 2.7 blocks-per-game lead the Valley and are seventh in the nation. As a team, SIU is second in the MVC and 34th in the country in blocks-per-game (4.48).
VU: A Rare Performance
When you combine Valpo freshman Ali Saunders’ perfect shooting in Sunday’s game against UNI with her distribution of the basketball, you get a feat rarely matched this season in D-I women’s basketball. Per HerHoopStats.com, Saunders is one of just four D-I players this year who has shot 100% from the field with at least seven made shots while also handing out at least four assists.
HerHoopStats Stat of the Week
UIC draws fouls on 27.6% of plays, the highest rate of any Division I team in the country. That is the highest rate since the 2014-15 season.
