St. LOUIS — The Missouri State Lady Bears are predicted to finish third in the Missouri Valley Conference this season in a vote of the league’s head coaches, media representatives and sports information directors, it was announced Tuesday (Oct. 25) at MVC Media Day in St. Louis.
The defending MVC Tournament champion Lady Bears collected a pair of first-place votes and 313 total points, while Drake is the preseason favorite with 392 points and 34 first-place votes. Defending regular-season champ UNI earned 317 points and four first-place votes for the No. 2 spot, and Southern Illinois (306) came in fourth.
Wichita State finished fifth in the polling with 248 points, followed by Indiana State (199), Bradley (141), Illinois State (123), Evansville (109) and Loyola (52).
Missouri State finished 24-10 last season and advanced to the 14th NCAA Tournament in school history. The Lady Bears return eight players from that squad, including three that started at least 11 games, for head coach Kellie Harper’s fourth season in Springfield. MSU has posted a top-three league finish in each of the last two seasons, combining for a 27-9 conference record over that time.
Drake’s Lizzy Wendell is the preseason player of the year, and is joined on the all-conference squad by teammate Caitlin Ingle, Wichita State’s Rangie Bessard, Rishonda Napier of Southern Illinois and UNI’s Madison Weekly.
The Lady Bears begin exhibition play Nov. 1 at 7:05 p.m. with Truman State, and tip off the regular season Nov. 11 with a 7 p.m. game at Memphis.
