Tight Race to the Finish
With two weeks to go in the regular season, The Valley race has a three-way tie at the top of the standings with Belmont, Illinois State and UNI all sitting at 13-3 in league play.  Missouri State sits one game back at 12-4, while Drake is 11-5 and still in the hunt for a title.

Only the MAC, MVC and Southern Conference have a three-way tie at the top of the standings entering Monday.  

REMAINING GAMES – TOP 5 IN THE MVC STANDINGS

	BEL	DU	ILS	MOST	UNI
F23	UNI	at MUR	UIC	UE	at BEL
F25	DU	at BEL	VU	INS	at MUR
M2	at UIC	MOST	at UE	at DU	SIU
M4	at VU	SIU	at INS	at UNI	MOST

16,777,216
With 24 games left in the Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball schedule, that’s how many win-loss combinations still exist. The MVC tiebreaker for tournament seeding is located on the MVC women’s basketball page -- a subdirectory under “Championship.”

Three-Way Tie For First
This is the 40th season of Valley women’s basketball with only seven of those seasons having a co-champion. There have only been three MVC seasons with tri-champs.

MVC Seasons With Tri-Champions
1987-88    Eastern Ill./Illinois St./Indiana St. (14-4)
1989-90    Southern Ill./Illinois St./Missouri St. (14-4)
2007-08    Illinois St./Evansville/Drake (13-5)

Homecourt Advantage
While the league’s overall homecourt record is a pedestrian 50-46 (52.1 percent), notably the five teams with winning records in league play have combined for a 32-8 record at home (80.0 percent).  Belmont and Drake sit 7-1 at home, while Illinois State, Missouri State and UNI are 6-2 at home.

Nothing But NET
The NCAA NET Report (Feb. 19) has four Valley teams that rank in the top-100, including six of the 12 sitting in the top 135.  Drake leads the way at No. 56 with UNI (68), Belmont (86) and Illinois State (88), rounding out the schools in the Top 100. Missouri State (103) and Murray State (132) rank in the top 135.  
 
Only eight leagues have six or more teams in the Top 135 of the NET (ACC, American, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten, MVC, Pac-12 and SEC.)

20 Wins
Since the start of the 1992-93 season only three 20-win MVC teams have been left out of the postseason. Last season, Southern Illinois, Missouri State, UNI and Drake all reached 20 wins, with all four teams reaching the NCAA or WNIT field.

20-Win Seasons (since 1982-83)
21 - Missouri State
19 - Drake
12 - Illinois State
10 - Southern Illinois
6 - UNI
5 - Indiana State
3 - Evansville
3 – Bradley

Sharpshooter
Illinois State’s Mary Crompton continues her move up The Valley career three-point field goal list.  The graduate student sits 3rd on The Valley’s all-time list. Crompton is eight 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.    286 - Mary Crompton, Illinois State    2018-pres.

1,000 Point Club
The Valley has 16 active players in the 1,000 point club. Murray State's Alexis Burpo and Southern Illinois' Ashley Jones surpassed the milestone this past week. 
 
Current MVC Players in 1,000 Point Club
1,987 - Macey Turley, Murray State
1,574 - Katelyn Young, Murray State
1,566 - Abby Feit, Evansville
1,427 - Destinee Wells, Belmont
1,366 - Sydni Harvey, Belmont
1,348 - Aniya Thomas, Missouri State
1,204 - Grace Berg, Drake
1,181 - Myia Clark, Evansville
1,177 - Mary Crompton, Illinois State
1,144 - Kam Finley, UNI
1,141 - Chelsea Cain, Indiana State
1,102 - Sydney Wilson, Missouri State
1,035 - Maggie Bair, Drake
1,032 - Ashley Jones, Southern Illinois
1,027 - Del’Janae Williams, Indiana State
1,001 - Alexis Burpo, Murray State

30 Something
Murray State’s Katelyn Young leads The Valley with six 30+ point performances this season.  Young has accounted for six of the league’s 12 30 point games this season, while also leading the way with 14 20-point outings this season. 

Number of 30-Point games
6 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
14 Young, Katelyn - Murray St.
13 Robinson, Paige - Illinois St.
10 Jones, Ashley - Southern Ill.
9 Wells, Destinee - Belmont
8 Feit, Abby - Evansville

BEL: Keep on Rollin’
Belmont completed its fifth-straight undefeated 2-0 week Sunday with a pivotal 68-58 win at Missouri State.     After a 3-7 start, the Bruins have won 14 of their last 17 games. Belmont’s average margin of victory during its current 10-game win streak is 19.4 points. The Bruins close out the home portion of the regular season this week with Northern Iowa and Drake.

BRAD: New Career High
Bradley’s Nika Dorsey had a career-high 15 points while grabbing two rebounds and handing out two assists in the Braves setback at UNI Saturday. Bradley battled the conference leaders, leading after the first quarter.   

DU: Payback in Pink
The Bulldogs completed a massive weekend of MVC action with an undefeated two-game homestand. Drake started their weekend with an 81-49 blowout of Bradley on Feb. 16. The Bulldogs dominated Bradley in all facets from start to finish to complete the season sweep of the Braves. Drake then evened the season series with an 83-67 upset of league-leading Illinois State on Feb. 18. Drake came back after an eight-point deficit at the end of the first period to sink the Redbirds and complicate the top of the conference standings. The Bulldogs’ win over Illinois State came during their annual Pink Game for breast cancer awareness in which both teams and fanbases were decked out in pink to honor cancer survivors and those currently fighting. 

UE: OT Thriller
Evansville battled back in the fourth quarter to force OT and pull out a 68-65 win over UIC Friday evening. Abby Feit, A’Niah Griffin and Anna Newman combined for 62 of Evansville’s 68 points on the night with Feit leading the way with 26 points and eight boards, scoring 23 points in the second half and overtime.

UIC: On McCloud Nine
Forward Jaida McCloud hit her stride late in the season for the Flames. She has scored in double figures in the last eight consecutive games and has secured two double-doubles during that span. She is now 49 points away from 1,000 career points in her collegiate career in her third year at UIC. 

ILS: Quest for 20
With 13 MVC wins thus far, Illinois State has set 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 welcomes UIC and Valpo to Normal  searching for the program’s first 20-win season since 2012-13 (24-11). 

INS: Lockdown Defense
After giving up 70-plus points in both ends of its last road trip, Indiana State’s defense came to play at home. The Sycamores allowed just 55 points per game against Valparaiso and UIC, their best two-game defensive stretch since early January. Indiana State’s defense allowed the Sycamores to play a pair of three-possession games last week despite averaging less than 50 points per game over those contests.

MOST: Dominating the Glass
Missouri State has been dominant on the boards this season. The Lady Bears rank inside the Top 10 nationally in both offensive rebounds per game (6th – 16.6) and rebound margin (9th - +10.5). They also rank 13th in the nation in total rebounds per game at 42.8. MSU has grabbed 50 or more rebounds six times this season, including a 62-rebound game against Southern Illinois.  

MUR:  30 for 30
Katelyn Young posted her second consecutive 30-point game and second consecutive double-double Sunday to lead the Racers with 31 points and 12 rebounds. She now has eight 30-plus point games in her career and is three away from the program-record of 11, held by MSU Hall of Famer Sheila Smith.

UNI: Consistent Program
The Panthers have posted its 14th consecutive season at .500 or better in Valley play along with its 13th year in a row with at least 17 victories and a top-half finish in the league standings. UNI was picked fifth in the preseason poll this year and is looking for the program’s third regular season title. 

SIU: Welcome to the Club!
On Friday night, SIU’s leading scorer, Ashley Jones, reached a career scoring milestone against Belmont. Jones scored her 1,000th point in her collegiate career in the loss. The graduated student is averaging over 16.0 points-per-game this season, ranking top five in the Valley in the category.  

VU: Weekend Sweep
Sunday’s win at Evansville completed a weekend sweep of the downstate Indiana road trip for the Beacons. This is the third straight season (excepting the COVID-affected 2020-21 campaign) that Valpo has swept both halves of the Indiana State/Evansville road swing — the first time in program history it has swept the same two-game conference road trip three straight times.

HerHoopStats.com Stat of the Week
Abbie Aalsma of Illinois State is shooting 56% on three-pointers in MVC conference play. That leads all freshman in the nation who have taken at least 25 three-point attempts in conference play.