Missouri State Lady Bears (17-9, 8-6 MVC) 

vs. 

Drake Bulldogs (14-12, 8-7 MVC) 

Game Overview

The Missouri State Lady Bears return to JQH Arena for their final home stretch of the 2010-11 season Friday evening when they take on the Drake Bulldogs in a 7:05 p.m. contest. The Lady Bears, who will also play host to Creighton in their final regular-season home game Sunday, will be shooting for their third straight win in the series with Drake.

Missouri State will be looking to work out of a recent slump that has resulted in losses in four of its five games in the month of February. The Lady Bears have dropped two straight games after their 69-52 setback at Wichita State last Thursday, and have not scored more than 68 points in any of their February contests.

Drake, on the other hand, has lost just once in six outings since MSU posted a 29-point victory over the Bulldogs in Des Moines on January 29. Last weekend, DU posted a pair of key wins at home, ending Illinois State's seven-game win streak with a nine-point win before pulling out a 72-67 victory over Indiana State Saturday. The Bulldogs ended a five-game losing streak by reeling off three straight victories against Evansville, Southern Illinois and Bradley.

Quick Hits

► Missouri State is 6-2 this season following a loss; the Lady Bears have averaged 68.5 points while allowing just 58.8 to the opposition in those games

► With their win at Indiana State last Thursday, the Lady Bears are also now 4-0 in games following their second straight loss over the last two seasons; MSU has not dropped three straight games since March 2009

► Naismith Trophy candidate Casey Garrison (1,605 points) moved past Roshonda Reed into seventh place on the Lady Bears' career scoring chart with her 20-point performance vs. UNI (Feb. 6); she needs 36 more points to catch Lynn Strubberg (1,641) in the No. 6 spot on the list and 164 to move into the top 5 (Jeanette Tendai with 1,769 points)

► Garrison has knocked down 117-of-126 (.929) free throws on the season to lead all Division I players; she hit a school-record 37 straight attempts from Dec. 5 through Jan. 21, has seven different streaks of at least nine straight makes from the foul line this season and enters Friday's game having hit her last 18 free throws

► Garrison needs two assists to climb into the Missouri State career top 10

► Missouri State has shot .478 (88-of-184) from the floor in its last three games against DU

► Garrison has averaged 22.0 points per game over five career outings vs. Drake

► With a 7-5 road record entering play this week, Missouri State needs two more road victories to match its biggest win total on the road since the 1991-92 season

► Missouri State leads the Valley in total rebounding (44.3 rpg), field goal percentage defense (.339), defensive rebounding (29.4 rpg), offensive rebounding (15.0 rpg) and blocked shots (6.0)

► MSU ranks fifth nationally in blocks per game and eighth in field goal percentage defense

► In conference play, MSU is the top free-throw shooting (.767) club in the circuit and also pace the league in rebounding (42.6 rpg) and offensive rebounding (15.1 rpg)

► Three Lady Bears rank among the top 10 individuals in offensive rebounding in MVC play; Christiana Shorter (3.6 rpg) leads the league, while Tia Mays (2.5) is tied for fourth and Garrison (2.3) ranks eighth

► Missouri State has kept nine opponents under .300 shooting and has held a total of 13 teams to 32 percent or less from the field this season; prior to the start of this year, the Lady Bears had held just four of their previous 93 foes below the 30 percent mark during Milleson's tenure

► With two rejections against Wichita State (Feb. 17), Mays upped her MSU single-season record for blocks to 89; Mays broke Sharon Zeilmann's 24-year-old MSU single-season record of 75 rejections vs. Bradley (Feb. 4) and leads the MVC (3.4 bpg) and ranks fifth nationally

► Jasmine Malone ranks fifth and Garrison is eighth in the Valley in steals (2.0) per game during conference play

► Shorter leads the MVC in both total rebounding (8.2 rpg) and offensive rebounding (3.2 rpg) and is   third in field goal percentage (.491); she ranks among the Valley's top 10 in a total of five individual statistical categories and enters Friday's game fifth in the conference in scoring (13.5 ppg) during MVC play

Scouting the Lady Bears

With 10 letterwinners and four starters back from last year's 22-11 team that finished tied for third in the Missouri Valley Conference to secure the program's first postseason bid in four years, the Lady Bears enter the 2010-11 season as the MVC's preseason favorite. Leading the way for Nyla Milleson's fourth MSU team will be returning All-MVC performers Casey Garrison and Jaleshia Roberson, who were named to the league's preseason all-conference team. The junior duo formed arguably the deadliest one-two punch in the MVC-particularly during conference play-in 2009-10. In MSU's 18 Valley games, they combined for 36.1 points per outing, with Garrison's 20.4 ppg, average pacing all scorers by more than three points per game. The reigning Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year, Garrison spearheaded MSU's potent offense last year, finishing as the MVC's top scorer and steals leader. She became the first Lady Bear since Kari Koch in 2004 to receive all-region recognition from the WBCA when she was named a Region 6 finalist for the organization's State Farm All-America Team.

Through the first 26 games of this season, Garrison is once again among the league leaders in a number of statistical categories, including free throw percentage (1st), three-point field goal percentage (2nd), scoring (2nd), assist-turnover ratio (3rd), assists (4th) and steals (9th) entering tonight's game.

Garrison has received help in the back court from  junior Jasmine Malone, who ranks third on the team in scoring (10.4 ppg) and fourth in rebounding (5.5 rpg) coming into the week. Freshman Karly Buer, who is fifth on the team with a 5.0 ppg. average, has also been a key cog in the Lady Bear attack. Buer is second on the team in assists after registering three straight games of at least 10 points and four assists (Nov. 20-30).

Also returning is the Valley's 2010 Freshman of the Year, Christiana Shorter. A Tulsa, Okla., native, Shorter finished her rookie campaign on a high note, registering five double-doubles in MSU's  final six contests. Shorter enters the week leading the MVC in rebounding (8.3 rpg) and third in field goal percentage (.491), while her 12.4 ppg average was second on the squad and 11th in the conference. Sophomore Tia Mays (4.3 ppg/6.7 rpg) has also played a critical role for MSU, leading the Lady Bears' defensive resurgence with a school-record 89 blocks on the season.

Lady Bear Notables

► Missouri State's 29-point win at Drake in the two clubs' first meeting of the year represented the biggest final margin of victory in a game in which the Lady Bears trailed at halftime since MSU made the transition to Division I in 1982

► Casey Garrison was named MVC Player of the Week for the fourth time this year and the eighth time of her career Jan. 31 after averaging 30.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists over two games vs. Creighton and Drake

► Tia Mays earned her first MVC Newcomer of the Week honor Jan. 17, and Christiana Shorter picked up her first MVC Player of the Week award Jan. 24 after claiming newcomer of the week honors four times last year

► The Lady Bears' 83 points vs. Lamar represented their highest opening-day offensive output since beating LSU, 85-75 to open the 2000-01 campaign

► After going winless on the road in November for over 26 years, Missouri State has claimed victory in two of its last three true road games over the last two seasons, but is still just 13-21 in the first month of the season since 2002-03

► The Lady Bears' win over SIU (Dec. 31) gave them a school-record seven wins in the month of December; MSU's 7-1 mark in December represents its best in any month since going 8-1 in January of 2005; the Lady Bears have won 16 of their last 18 December games over the last three years

► The Lady Bears set or matched five JQH Arena records Dec. 9 vs. SIU Edwardsville, including fewest points allowed (39), fewest points in a half (17), fewest field goals allowed (13), lowest field goal percentage allowed (.210) and widest margin of victory (+29)

► SIU Edwardsville's 39 points marked the lowest point total for a Lady Bear opponent since Jan. 1, 2004, when MSU held SLU to 33 points; it took the Lady Bears less than two weeks to hold another opponent to the same total, limiting Morgan State to 39 points on Dec. 21

► The Lady Bear defense limited Morgan State (Dec. 21) to just 14-of-72 (.194) shooting, marking the second-lowest single-game field goal percentage on record for a Missouri State opponent; that performance followed a similar effort vs. SIU Edwardsville (.210) on Dec. 9 which matched MSU's Jan. 22, 2004 performance vs. Texas-Pan American for the third-lowest single-game percentage

► Missouri State became the 30th Division I program to reach the 700-win mark with its Dec. 3 win over Eastern Michigan

► Mays's nine blocked shots against Arkansas State (Dec. 5) broke the Missouri State single-game record established by Sharon Zeilmann on two separate occasions; her effort also matched the all-time MVC mark held by UNI's Cassie Hager

► MSU was one of 17 Division I women's basketball programs to post a turnaround of at least +10 games or more last season; the Lady Bears' 12-game improvement was tied for the seventh-best in the nation

► MSU was 14th nationally in team scoring, 17th in FT percentage, 22nd in 3-FG percentage, 29th in steals, 37th in FG percentage and 47th in assists per game last year

► Missouri State's 591 free throws made in 2009-10 was more than four Valley teams attempted on the season and represented the fifth-highest team total in MVC history

► Garrison ranked 13th nationally in scoring and was the only NCAA Division I player in the country to rank among the top 35 in individual points, assists and steals per game last year

► Jaleshia Roberson's 91 three-point field goals last season was the second-highest total all-time at MSU and tied for third all-time in the Valley in a single season; Roberson moved past Jenni Lingor (2005) and Kari Koch (2006) by going 5-of-9 vs. Wichita State (March 12), and fell just 14 triples shy of Melody Howard's MSU record, set in 1994

Scouting the Bulldogs

Picked seventh in this year's Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, Drake enters Friday's game with five wins in its last six outings since dropping a 90-61 decision to the Lady Bears on Jan. 29. The Bulldogs who returned nine letterwinners and three starters from last year's 15-15 squad that finished eighth in the Valley, have gotten the job done with defense as of late. DU has given up an average of just 61.5 points over its last six games. Head coach Amy Stephens has the conference's leading scorer in the form of senior guard Kristin Turk (20.3 ppg/3.1 apg), who also paces the circuit in steals (2.7 spg). Turk has connected on 51-of-146 (.349) three-point attempts to rank sixth in the MVC in total makes from beyond the arc. She receives help in the backcourt from freshman Angela Christianson (8.5 ppg/4.0 rpg), who enters the weekend as DU's third-leading scorer and top free-throw shooter (.889). Junior Amber Wollschlager (6.8 ppg/2.1 apg) has started all 26 games for the Bulldogs and gives Stephens an additional offensive weapon on the perimeter. In the post, DU relies heavily on 6-3 junior Rachael Hackbarth (12.9 ppg/7.7), who leads the club and ranks fourth in the Valley in rebounding. Hackbarth has burned the Lady Bears with a pair of double-doubles over the past two seasons, including a career-high 28 points in an 88-84 DU victory last January.

As a team, Drake enters the game second in the MVC in both free throw percentage (.739) and field goal percentage (.414 spg).

The Coaches

Nyla Milleson (Kansas State, '85) is in her fourth season as the head coach at Missouri State with a 60-59 mark as the Lady Bears' mentor and an overall record of 245-95 in 11 years as a collegiate head coach. Prior to taking the reins of the MSU program, the Goodland, Kan., native guided Drury University to a 185-36 record in seven seasons, highlighted by a national runner-up finish in 2003-04. In all, the Lady Panthers made five NCAA Division II Tournament appearances, advancing to the Sweet 16 in three of those years. Milleson was honored as Heartland Conference Coach of the Year three times, as Drury won six conference titles in all. Milleson is 2-5 against the Bulldogs, but the Lady Bears have won the last two meetings in the series.

Amy Stephens (Nebraska, '91) is 132-111 in her eighth season as coach of the Bulldogs and 329-154 overall as a collegiate head coach. Stephens came to Des Moines after a highly successful eight-year stay as head coach at Division II Nebraska-Kearney (1994-2002) and one year as assistant coach at the University of Nebraska (2002-03). Stephens guided Drake to a 16-15 record and a WNIT bid in her first season at the helm (2003-04). In 2006-07, the Bulldogs captured the State Farm MVC Tournament title with four wins in four days on their home floor to earn the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. The following year DU claimed a share of the Valley's regular-season crown to earn a WNIT bid, its fourth postseason appearance in five years under Stephens. Against the Lady Bears, Stephens has a 10-7 record, including a 4-5 mark in Springfield.

Series History

The Bulldogs are the only MVC club with a .500 record vs. Missouri State, entering the contest with a 33-33 mark against the Lady Bears. MSU holds a 22-14 advantage vs. DU in Springfield. Last year, the Lady Bears came back from an 18-point deficit to stop a seven-game skid vs. the Bulldogs with an 87-78 win at JQH Arena.

In the two clubs' first meeting this season, MSU turned in its best offensive performance of the season in a 90-61 victory at the Knapp Center in Des Moines. Casey Garrison poured home a career-high 36 points, as the Lady Bears shot .559 from the floor, marking a four-year high under head coach. 

Fandemonium

In recognition of the unwavering support of one of the best fan bases in the country, the Lady Bears will say 'thank you' to their loyal followers with a special Fan Appreciation Night Friday against Drake. As part of the festivities, all fans who return a completed ticket voucher to the JQH Arena Box Office will receive a complimentary game ticket for the best seat available at the time of submission.

Vouchers are now available for pick-up locally at select Missouri State corporate partners, including McDonalds, Taco Bell, St. John's, Boys & Girls Clubs, Springfield-Greene County Parks and Recreation, ECCU, The Courts, Pat Jones YMCA, Downtown YMCA, Golden Corral, Jump Mania, Bancorp South, Great Southern Bank and Pickleman's.

To avoid heavy box office traffic on game day, completed vouchers should be redeemed at the JQH Arena Box Office during regular business hours.

Since the 1990-91 season, Missouri State has ranked in the top 20 nationally in average attendance 19 times, including a string of 10 straight top-10 finishes from 1992 through the 2000-01 season. The Lady Bears led all of Division I women's basketball in attendance during the 1992-93 season by averaging 7,421 fans per contest.

Coming into the 2010-11 season, MSU was fourth among all Division I women's programs in average attendance over the last two decades,, trailing only Tennessee, Connecticut and Texas Tech. Additionally, the Lady Bears have finished in the top 50 nationally in per game attendance for 24 straight years. Currently, the Lady Bears rank 31st in Division I with an average attendance of 3,395 fans per game.

Lady Bears to 'Think Pink' Sunday

A special performance by national performing artist Candy Coburn will highlight the Lady Bears' home finale with Creighton Sunday. As part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's 2011 Pink Zone campaign, the Lady Bears and Bluejays will tip-off at 12:05 p.m. in a contest that will be featured live on the Missouri Valley Conference Television Network.

A rising star on the national country music scene committed to the fight against breast cancer, Coburn will perform the national anthem prior to the contest, as well as a halftime show that will include her single "Pink Warrior".

The game also marks the final regular-season home contest for seniors Jacque Griggs and Kendra Roberts, who will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony.

The Lady Bears will don pink uniforms and apparel provided by Ashley Furniture to commemorate the occasion, and the BCFO will distribute a variety of information relating to breast cancer awareness. Volunteers will be on hand to collect donations and give fans the opportunity to purchase pink ribbon honoraria and memory cards that will be displayed on the east wall of the main arena lower bowl. All in attendance who have been impacted by breast cancer will be recognized during the contest.

BCFO and Fast Break Club volunteers will distribute a limited number of pink t-shirts provided by Verizon at both the Northwest and Grand Entrances to JQH Arena, and voluntary donations to the Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks (BCFO) will be accepted throughout the building.

Additionally, a silent auction featuring the pink Nike jerseys worn by the Lady Bears will be conducted on the Price Cutter Concourse throughout the contest, with all proceeds going to the BCFO.

Forgettable February

With their 1-4 start to the month of February, the Lady Bears have continued a recent trend of slow starts in the year's second month. Over the previous four seasons, MSU was a combined 7-13 in its first five games of the month. The Lady Bears have recovered in the second half of the month to finish with a cumulative 12-15 mark over the same stretch, including an 8-5 February record over the last two seasons.

Old Faithful

One constant for Missouri State through the conference season has been the scoring production of reigning MVC Player of the Year Casey Garrison. The junior guard has led the Lady Bears in scoring nine consecutive outings and has racked up 17 points or more in 10 straight contests.

That's A Winner

With their over Indiana State Feb. 10, the Lady Bears locked up their second straight winning season under head coach Nyla Milleson and their 28th overall in 42 years as a varsity program. Missouri State has some work to do to match its longest stretch of consecutive winning seasons, however. The Lady Bears posted 17 straight finishes above the .500 mark from 1990 through 2006.

Slow Goes the 'O'

The Lady Bears' 1-4 start in February can be traced in part to a struggling offense that has produced an average of just 60.2 points per outing. MSU has topped the 60-point mark just two times over the five-game stretch on the heels of its best offensive effort of the season Jan. 29 at Drake, in which it shot .559 from the field and scored 90 points. The Lady Bears have shot just .345 as a team in February, including an abysmal .208 (15-of-72) from beyond the arc.

A Quick Look Back

In spite of its recent troubles, the Lady Bear offense has proven to be one of the most-productive units in the Missouri Valley Conference over the last two seasons. But a comparison of last year's offensive statistics to this year's shows a dramatic contrast in several areas. Through the first 26 games of the 2009-10 season, MSU eclipsed the 70-point mark 20 times, reaching 80 points in 11 of those games. This year, the Lady Bears have scored 70 points nine times and topped the 80-point plateau on just three occasions. MSU's free throw shooting has also seen a sharp decline, as this year's version of the Lady Bears has hit 20 free throws in a game four times, compared to 10 instances through the same point of last year.

Jekyll and Hyde

Through the first 14 games of the conference season, the Lady Bears have shown two distinct personalities that can be clearly illustrated with a quick look at the numbers. In their eight Valley wins, they have scored an average of 74.4 points while holding the opposition to just 53.6 points for a scoring margin of +20.8 points. MSU has also shot .414 from the field, and returning all-conference performers Casey Garrison, Jaleshia Roberson and Christiana Shorter have combined to average 42.4 points while shooting 122-of-276 (.442) as a group. Conversely, the trio has scored .536 ppg and shot just .355 (72-of-203) in their six MVC losses, as the Lady Bears have scored at a 60.9 ppg clip while giving up 72.5 points per outing. Most glaring is MSU's three-point field goal percentage defense, which has allowed just .245 shooting in the eight victories, but .406 in the six losses.

High-Water Marks                

The Lady Bears enjoyed their best offensive performance of the 2010-11 season Jan. 29 in their win at Drake, recording season-high totals for points (90), assists (21) and field goals (33), as well as their top shooting percentage (.559) of the year, which also represented a Missouri State high under fourth-year head coach Nyla Milleson. MSU's 29-point margin of victory equaled the Lady Bears' best under Milleson as well. 

Another Double-Double for Double-Three  

Missouri State's No. 33 Christiana Shorter racked up the 16th double-double of her Lady Bear career with a 15-point, 11-board effort last Thursday at Wichita State. The Tulsa native enters Friday's game in fifth place on the MSU all-time double-double list. She trails only Kelly Mago (17), Tiff Terwelp (21), Roshonda Reed (24) and Jeanette Tendai (35) on the Lady Bears' career list.

The Defense Never Rests                     

Missouri State's defense has been one of the biggest surprises of the season, entering the week with the eighth-best field goal percentage defense in the country. The Lady Bears held four straight opponents under .300 from the field from Dec. 3 through Dec. 12-a first in the 42-year history of the program. MSU has posted two of the best defensive efforts in school history, including a .194 effort at Morgan State that ranked as the second-lowest field goal percentage ever for a Lady Bear opponent.

The Lady Bears lead The Valley in field goal percentage defense and blocked shots. Led by Tia Mays's 3.4 blocks per game, the Lady Bears ranked sixth nationally in blocks per game as of Feb. 21. Mays has totaled 57 of her 89 blocks on the season in MSU's 14 home games.

All Good Things Must Come to an End              

Casey Garrison's quest for the top spot on Missouri State's all-time chart for consecutive free throws made was fulfilled in the Lady Bears Jan. 16 victory over Indiana State. She went 6-of-6 from the stripe to stretch her string of consecutive makes to 33, surpassing Lisa Davies's 13-year-old school record. Garrison then sank her first four shots vs. Wichita State (Jan. 21) before misfiring on two straight attempts, marking her first misses at the stripe since Dec. 5. Garrison's streak of 37 straight free throws ranks fifth on the Valley's all-time list. She wasted little time in regaining her stroke, connecting on her next 10 tries from the line and 24 of her next 25 immediately after the streak ended. She enters Friday's game have hit her last 18 attempts from the line.

May Day

Through the first 26 games of her Missouri State career, sophomore transfer Tia Mays has already made an imprint in the Lady Bear record book. The 6-1 forward, who ranked fifth nationally in blocks per game coming into the week, rejected two Bradley shots Feb. 4 to surpass Sharon Zeilmann's 24-year-old MSU single-season school record. With four rejections against Indiana State (Feb. 10), Mays climbed to No. 3 on the MVC's single-season blocked shot list, passing Tammi Blackstone of Drake, who swatted 84 shots in 1998-99. She added two more blocks last Thursday at Wichita State to bring her Missouri State-record total to 89 on the year.  

Mays has posted eight of the top 15 single-game block totals in school history, including a Missouri State-record nine rejections in MSU's 58-47 win over Arkansas State (Dec. 5). That effort broke Zeilmann's school record and matched the all-time Missouri Valley Conference mark for blocks in a single game, held by UNI's Cassie Hager. Zeilmann, who swatted away eight shots on two separate occasions during the 1986-87 season, held the Lady Bear single-game mark for nearly a quarter of a century.

The Des Moines native became the fastest Missouri State player to reach 50 career blocks and her current average of 3.4 bpg would rank third all-time on the Valley's single-season list. If she concludes the season atop the MVC's leader board, Mays would become just the third Lady Bear to lead the conference in blocks, joining Zeilmann (1985 and 1987) and Breton Wyett (2007) in that exclusive club.

Climbing the Charts

Junior guard Casey Garrison took her place on a pair of Missouri State career top 10 lists the week of Jan. 3-9. The Bolivar, Mo., product eclipsed Cindy Henderson's career scoring total with her 13-point effort at Bradley (Jan. 8) to move into the top 10 for career scoring, just two days after cracking the school's top 10 steals list.

Already No. 2 all-time at MSU in career scoring average (18.0 ppg), Garrison needs 36 points to move up to sixth on the scoring list after passing Roshonda Reed with her 20-point effort Feb. 6 vs. UNI, but an astounding 1,788 points to catch all-time NCAA scoring leader Jackie Stiles in the top spot on the chart with 3,393 career points. Garrison has a much shorter distance to climb to reach the top of the steals list, needing just 144 more to equal Kari Koch's school-record career total of 340.

With two more assists and 89 additional rebounds, Garrison would break into the career top 10 charts in those categories as well, making her just the second Lady Bear ever to post top 10 career totals in points, rebounds, assists and steals. Jenni Lingor is currently the only player in the 42-year history of the varsity program at MSU to accomplish the feat, ranking fourth in points, sixth in assists, seventh in rebounds and eighth in steals. With 36 points at Drake (Jan. 29), Garrison joined Lingor as the only Lady Bears to total 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 300 assists.

Easy As 1-2-3

As a team, the Lady Bears lead the MVC in field goal percentage defense (.339), blocked shots (6.0 bpg), total rebounding (44.3 rpg), offensive rebounding (15.0 rpg) and defensive rebounding (29.4 rpg), and rank first, second or third in 12 different team statistical categories.

Bench Marks

After being outscored in each of the first three games of the season, Missouri State's bench has outscored the last 23 Lady Bear opponents by a combined 109 points (390 to 281). MSU reserves enjoyed a strong all-around performance in the Lady Bears' win over LA Tech (Nov. 27), out-scoring the Lady Techster reserves, 23-7 while also outrebounding them 22-7. MSU's contest against ORU (Nov. 30) produced even greater returns, as MSU finished with a 32-5 advantage in bench scoring vs. the Golden Eagles. Led by Regan Soldner's career-high 10 points, the MSU bench out-performed Indiana State's reserves by a 25-6 margin Feb. 10.

Missouri State All-Time

Missouri State is in its 42nd season of women's collegiate basketball and has an all-time record of 713-495 (.590). MSU began formal competition in 1969 and, with its 22-11 mark last year, secured its 27th winning season. The Lady Bears have made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, highlighted by Final Four trips in 1992 and 2001 to go along with a Sweet 16 appearance in 1993.

The Lady Bears are in their 29th NCAA Division I season and 19th MVC year. MSU was in AIAW competition on the state, regional and national levels through the 1981-82 season, moved to Division I and Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference play in 1982-83 and started MVC competition in 1992-93 when the Gateway merged with The Valley. The Lady Bears are 230-104 all-time in MVC play with a 135-32 home record against league foes.