The Missouri Valley Conference honors its past on Sunday, October 29, when The Valley conducts its Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony as part of the league’s Centennial Celebration Gala at the Sheldon Concert Hall in downtown St. Louis. Tickets are available at www.mvc.org or by calling (314) 421-0339.
The Centennial Gala, which begins at 3 p.m., will include multi-media presentations and interviews with league greats and culminate with the formal induction of basketball standout Jackie Stiles of Missouri State University.
Stiles -- the sole inductee for the league’s tenth Hall of Fame induction class -- is arguably the greatest women’s basketball player in NCAA history.
The all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I records with 3,393 points, Stiles led the Lady Bears to the national semifinals of the 2001 NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four in St. Louis while earning the Wade Trophy, Broderick Cup and the Honda Awards Program Player of the Year.
“The Missouri Valley Conference has provided the ultimate stage for the nation’s top student-athletes in NCAA Division I athletics history,” said Doug Elgin, who is in his 19th year as the league’s commissioner. “And our Hall of Fame ceremony provides the forum to honor individuals who were instrumental in the development of the Conference and its member schools.”
“Names like Oscar Robertson, Larry Bird, Hersey Hawkins and Holli Hyche are carved into the league’s 100-year legacy, and we are elated that we have the opportunity to add Jackie Stiles to that elite group.”
A native of Claflin, Kan., Stiles -- the 1998 MVC Freshman of the Year -- is the only MVC women’s basketball player to earn league most valuable player honors three consecutive seasons (1999 to 2001).
An academic All-America choice in 2001, she received first-team All-MVC and All- America honors all four seasons at MSU.
In addition to her selection for the Wade Trophy and Broderick Cup in 2001, she was the NCAA West Regional MVP and a finalist for the Naismith College Basketball Player of the Year, Conseco Nancy Lieberman-Cline Award and ESPY Women’s College Basketball Player of the Year.
In all, she averaged 26.1 points per game in 129 contests at Missouri State, including a career-best 30.3 points per tilt during the 2000-01 campaign.
In fact, Stiles still holds seven single-season Missouri State records, including 2000-01 marks for points (1,062), minutes played (1,169), scoring average, field goals (365), field goal attempts (645), free throws made (267) and free throw attempts (301).
While her performance game in, game out spoke volumes, she was especially dominant in postseason play.
Stiles still holds the State Farm MVC Tournament single-game (56 points versus Evansville in 2000) and overall tourney (103 in three 2000 games) scoring records.
Following her Missouri State career, she was selected by the Portland Fire with the fourth pick in the 2001 WNBA draft.
With the Fire in 2001, she averaged 14.9 points and 32.0 minutes per game, became the first player for the Fire to participate in the WNBA All-Star Game and collected WNBA Rookie of the Year honors.
