Missouri State’s Brice Calip tied a Missouri Valley Conference record by winning her third consecutive women’s basketball Player of the Week award, the league announced Monday.
The senior is the first Lady Bear since Jackie Stiles in January 2001 to win the award three straight times, and the first MSU player to win four times in a season since Casey Garrison in 2010-11. The award is the fifth overall in Calip’s career.
Calip averaged 15.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 3.7 steals in three MSU wins last week, helping the 25th-ranked Lady Bears improve to 11-2 overall and 7-0 in MVC play, their fifth time starting 7-0 in league games and first since 2019.
The Sapulpa, Okla., native sunk three free throws with 0.8 seconds left Sunday to give MSU a 74-73 win at Valpo, finishing the game with 23 points on 9-for-9 foul shooting, seven assists without a turnover and five steals.
Calip had seven assists and three steals with 11 points in Wednesday’s victory against Southern Illinois, and scored 12 points with nine rebounds, three assists and three steals Saturday at Valpo. Calip shot 20-for-22 at the foul line for the week and improved her league-leading assist-to-turnover ratio to 3.0, on pace for MSU’s single-season record.
She is one of nine players nationally through Jan. 31 with at least 190 points, 60 rebounds, 50 assists and 35 steals, playing the fewest games of any player on that list, and has at least three steals in eight consecutive contests.
Missouri State, which is one of five teams nationally with at least five Quadrant I NET victories (through Jan. 31), hosts Indiana State on Feb. 5 and 6 at JQH Arena. Tickets are available at //MissouriStateBears.com/tickets or at the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena, (417) 836-7678, during regular box office hours.
In addition to Calip and Stiles, only Drake’s Sara Rhine and Lizzy Wendell have been MVC Player of the Week three straight times. No player has ever won four consecutive weeks.
