St. LOUIS – With the vast majority of last season's roster that won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fourth time in program history returning, the Missouri State Lady Bears are picked to finish second in the MVC race this season according to a vote of the league's head coaches, media representatives and sports information directors, it was announced Thursday, Oct. 17.

The Lady Bears, who have posted five consecutive top-three MVC finishes and met or exceeded their preseason poll selection each of the last three years, collected eight first-place votes and a total of 329 points for No. 2 spot. Drake is the choice to repeat as regular season champion with 359 points and 31 first-place votes. UNI picked up the remaining No. 1 vote and 297 points for third, and Bradley (255) came in fourth.

Southern Illinois finished fifth in the polling with 235 points, followed by Illinois State (212), Loyola (188), Valparaiso (126), Indiana State (111) and Evansville (88). The preseason all-conference team includes Becca Hittner (MVP) and Sara Rhine of Drake, Illinois State's TeTe Maggett, Nicole Martin of Southern Illinois, and UNI's Karli Rucker.

Missouri State closed the 2018-19 season with 24 wins in its final 27 games, and brings back 79 percent of scoring, 84 percent or rebounds, 73 percent of assists, 78 percent of steals, 90 percent of blocked shots and 83 percent of minutes played from a squad that finished 25-10 overall and 16-2 in Valley play.

Three Lady Bears – Brice Calip, Jasmine Franklin and Alexa Willard – earned honorable mention all-MVC honors last season, nine players on the roster appeared in at least 32 games with a minimum 12 minutes per contest, and all 12 returners played in at least 10 games a season ago.

The Lady Bears host two exhibition contests at JQH Arena this season, playing Lincoln at 7 p.m. on Oct. 28 and Southwest Baptist at 7 p.m. on Nov. 1. MSU tips off the regular season Nov. 5 at Minnesota, and the home opener is Nov. 8 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first round of the Preseason WNIT.

For season ticket information, please contact Duane Miller at (417) 836-8899. Single-game tickets are on sale at MissouriStateBears.com/tickets, by phone at (417) 836-7678 or in person at the Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena.