St. LOUIS – The Missouri Valley Conference has finalized its 2019-20 women's basketball schedule, the league office announced Tuesday (Sept. 3), with the Lady Bears set to tip off Valley play Jan. 3 at Loyola.
With the league schedule factored in, the Lady Bears will play at least nine games against seven teams that participated in a postseason tournament in 2018-19, four in Valley play and five more during a challenging non-conference schedule that includes the opportunity for more such contests in the Preseason WNIT.
Missouri State begins league play with five of seven games on the road, starting at Loyola (Jan. 3) and Valparaiso (Jan. 5), and continuing with Southern Illinois (Jan. 17), Indiana State (Jan. 24) and Evansville (Jan. 26) to cap a travel-filled January. The balance of the road schedule includes trips to UNI (Feb. 7), Drake (Feb. 9), Illinois State (Feb. 27) and Bradley (March 1).
The Lady Bears' first home weekend of the Valley slate is Jan. 10 and 12 against Drake and UNI, with Bradley (Jan. 31) and Illinois State (Feb. 2) coming to JQH Arena before MSU closes with five of seven games at home – SIU (Feb. 15), Evansville (Feb. 21), Indiana State (Feb. 23), Valpo (March 5) and Loyola (March 7).
The MVC Tournament will be held March 12-15 at TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Ill.
MSU begins the season Nov. 5 at Minnesota, with the home opener set for Nov. 8 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Preseason WNIT. Missouri State will host at least four additional non-conference games, including a marquee match-up with Mizzou on Dec. 15, and has exhibition contests against Lincoln (Oct. 28) and Southwest Baptist (Nov. 1).
The Lady Bears return nearly their entire roster from last season's Sweet 16 team, with 12 players back for head coach
Amaka Agugua-Hamilton's first year on the sideline. MSU went 25-10 overall and 16-2 in MVC play last season, rebounding from a 1-7 start to advance to the program's fourth Sweet 16.
Season tickets may be reserved now by phone (417) 836-8899 or email
DuaneMiller@MissouriState.edu.
