ST. LOUIS – Missouri State women’s basketball had two Lady Bears earn MVC Specialty Awards, the league announced today. Sixth-year senior Brice Calip was named MVC Defensive Player of the Year, while Abi Jackson was named the MVC’s Most Improved Player.
This marks the second time in her career that Calip has been named MVC Defensive Player of the Year, making her the fifth player in league history to win the award multiple times.
Calip has set career highs in steals (64), rebounds per game (5.2), total rebounds (152) and defensive rebounds (104) this season. She has logged 11 games this season with three or more steals and set a career-high with 13 rebounds at Drake on January 15. In MVC play, Calip ranks 1st in steals per game with 2.3 and 14th in rebounding with 6.0 per game. Her 64 steals also rank 56th in the nation and her 2.21 steals per game rank 75th.
From last season, Calip has increased her total rebounds from 127 to 152, her steals from 56 to 64 and her rebounding average from 4.9 to 5.2, while also playing the most minutes of her career at 32.2 minutes per game. The long-time Lady Bears also ranks 7th in MSU program history with 244 career steals.
Jackson has stepped up in a big way for the Lady Bears in the post this season. Since taking over in the starting lineup at the start of conference play, Jackson has averaged 15.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, both of which lead the team. In conference play in 2020-21, Jackson averaged just 4.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. In MVC play alone this season, Jackson has 43 blocks compared to 17 last season.
Across the entire season, Jackson improved her numbers from 4.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game in 2020-21 to 12.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this season, while her total blocks increased from 29 to 66. The fifth-year senior has also seen 26.8 minutes per game this season, compared to 11.4 minutes on the floor per game last year.
In non-conference play this season, Jackson was averaging just 8.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game before she earned more playing time and showcased her full set of skills in MVC competition, ranking fourth in the league in scoring with 15.4 points per game and fifth in rebounding with 7.2 per game in MVC contests.
Jackson dropped a career-high 31 points against Evansville on Feb. 26, the most points by an MSU Lady Bear since 2018 and has logged a team-high 18 double-digit scoring performances this season. She ranks 19th in the nation with 2.36 blocks per game and 22nd nationally with 66 total blocks.
Missouri State women’s basketball will head to the MVC Hoops in the Heartland conference tournament this week. They are slated to take on the winner of the No. 7 Drake/ No. 10 Bradley matchup on Friday, March 11 at 6 p.m.
