Women's Basketball

MVC Women's Basketball Weekly Notebook (Dec. 1)

ST. LOUIS -- The Missouri Valley Conference announced its women's basketball weekly honors on Monday. Murray State's Sharnecce Currie-Jelks has been named the Player and Newcomer of the Week, while UIC's Magdalena Winter is the MVC Freshman of the Week.

Conference News & Notes
  • Missouri Valley Conference play opens up this week, as Illinois State travels to face UNI on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT and Valparaiso hosts UIC at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
  • In the first NET report of the 2025-26 season on Monday, three MVC women’s programs were inside the Top 150 - Belmont (90), Murray State (126) and Illinois State (149).
  • Nine players from seven different institutions are averaging at least 15.0 points per game this season, led by Murray State’s Sharnecce Currie-Jelks (20.9) and Bradley’s Kaylen Nelson (20.6). 
  • Belmont’s Tuti Jones notched her 1,500th career point in the Bruins’ opening game against Ohio State in the Bahamas. 
  • Bradley’s Kaylen Nelson continued to stay hot from 3-point territory, knocking down six against Missouri. The fifth year has made at least four treys in five of seven outings this season.
  • Drake’s Quinn Vice had a career day against Arkansas, leading all scorers with 21 points. That marked the second-highest point total by a Bulldog rookie in a game this year.
  • As a team, Evansville drained 16 3-pointers against SIUE on Tuesday, marking the most in a single game by the Aces since 2015. 
  • UIC went 2-1 last week, earning wins over Ball State and Maine. The Flames were led by Julia Coleman, who averaged 16.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 51.2% from the floor and being named to the Iona Turkey Tip-Off All-Tournament Team.
  • Illinois State’s Addison Martin was as consistent as they come for the Redbirds during their 3-game stretch at the Puerto Rico Shootout in San Juan last week. Martin averaged a near double-double with 15.7 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest for the Redbirds. She has now scored in double figures each contest this season.
  • Indiana State hit the 100-point mark in a game for the first time since Nov. 28, 2006 against Loyola Chicago last Monday. The Sycamores scored 100-plus points on three occasions during the 2006-07 non-conference slate, but went 511 games without hitting the century mark prior to its win over Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
  • Murray State went undefeated at the Daytona Beach Classic, picking up wins over George Mason and Boston College. The 82-77 victory over the Eagles marked the Racers’ first win over an ACC opponent in program history.
  • UNI’s Elise Jaeger (13 pts, 16 reb) and Ryley Goebel (16 pts, 11 reb) each recorded their first double-doubles of the season in a win over Northern Arizona. It marked the first time that two Panthers recorded point-rebound double-doubles in a game since 2018. 
  • Southern Illinois’ Alayna Kraus leads the Salukis in scoring, averaging 16.8 points per contest. She has notched double figures in each outing, including a season-high 23 points against Arkansas.
  • Valparaiso’s Fiona Connolly represented the Beacons on the All-Tournament Team at the CSU Invitational, averaging 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, which included a career-high 21 points against Radford.

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PLAYER & NEWCOMER OF THE WEEK: SHARNECCE CURRIE-JELKS, MURRAY STATE
Junior | Forward | Jackson, Tenn. | Indiana University
27.5 PPG | 10.5 PPG | 63% FG | 88% FT
With another dominant week, Sharnecce Currie-Jelks continued to establish herself as one of the nation’s premier performers. She recorded her fourth and fifth double-doubles of the season as Murray State went undefeated during Feast Week. Her weekend in Daytona Beach was highlighted by a career-best 32 points and 11 rebounds in a win over George Mason. She followed that up with a 23-point, 10-rebound effort against Boston College to help secure the program’s first-ever victory over an ACC opponent. Her 32-point outing against George Mason stands as the highest single-game scoring performance in The Valley this season and the seventh-highest total in Division I this week. She also continues to pace the Conference in scoring at 20.9 points per game, a mark that ranks 19th nationally.

FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK: MAGDALENA WINTER, UIC
Redshirt-Freshman | Center | Berlin, Germany 
8.33 PPG | 7.00 RPG | 61% FG | 7 AST
UIC redshirt-freshman center Magdalena Winter delivered a strong, steady week in the post, averaging 8.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists across three games at the Iona Turkey Tip-Off. Winter earned the first double-double of her collegiate career with 10 points and 10 boards in the Flames’ win over Maine, and followed it with another 10-point outing against Iona. She also contributed five points, six rebounds and three assists in a narrow win over Ball State. Her consistency on both ends of the floor helped her secure a spot on the 2025 Iona Turkey Tip-Off All-Tournament Team.