Starting Five - Storylines for the MVC Opening Weekend
1) The No. 19/21 Missouri State Lady Bears (10-2) begin their 28th Missouri Valley Conference season Friday afternoon with a 3 p.m. game at Loyola (9-2) before heading to Northwest Indiana for a 1 p.m. Sunday contest with Valparaiso (8-3). The Lady Bears are now 34-5 overall since Dec. 20, 2018, ranking fourth nationally in total wins since that date, and are 17-10 all-time in MVC openers. MSU has five straight top-three MVC finishes, winning 12 or more Valley games each season, and is 65-15 in its last 80 regular season league contests.
2) The Lady Bears have shot 40 percent or better and scored at least 68 points in 11 of 12 games this season. Through Dec. 31, the Lady Bears rank fourth nationally in 3-point percentage at .411 and 20th at 46.1 percent overall.
3) Missouri State has won the rebounding battle in 10 of 12 games this season and owns a plus-9.8 margin on the glass this year after ranking second in school history at plus-8.3 last season.
4) The Lady Bears are off to their best start since the 2003-04 team opened 20-1, and best home start since that same club finished 17-0 in Springfield. Missouri State's 10 wins prior to MVC play are the most in school history.
5) MSU brings a school-record 11-game MVC road winning streak into league play this year, the last loss at Drake on Feb. 4, 2018. Missouri State is 33-7 in its last 40 away conference contests. Overall, the Lady Bears are 14-2 in their last 16 true road games and 20-3 in the last 23 games away from home. The losses are at the hands of No. 6 Stanford in the 2019 Sweet 16, No. 7 Oregon State in the 2019 Preseason WNIT championship game, and 17th-ranked Gonzaga, all by 12 points or fewer.
Series Histories
Missouri State leads the all-time series by a 12-3 margin, including a 5-3 mark in Chicago. The Ramblers won twice in the Windy City in the early 1980s and again in the first MVC meeting between the schools in January 2014, but the Lady Bears have won all 12 meetings since.
    The Lady Bears are 4-0 against Valparaiso, with each meeting since the Crusaders joined the MVC two years ago. MSU has won the four games by an average of 23.3 points.
Scouting Loyola
Loyola is 9-2 after a 9-0 start, and is one of the nation's best rebounding teams at plus-10.7 on the glasswith a .769 defensive rebounding rate, good for third nationally and slightly ahead of MSU's .760 figure. Abby O'Connor leads the Ramblers with 14.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game, Allison Day averages 14 points and Janae Gonzales tops the MVC with 32 3-pointers. As a team, LUC averages 75.1 points and allows 62.7, shooting 43.1 percent overall, 36.7 percent from 3-point range and 70.7 percent at the foul line.
Scouting Valpo
Valparaiso is 8-3 on the year with seven straight victories, already matching last season's win total under second-year head coach Mary Evans. The Crusaders are 4-0 at home, with Grace Hales (12.3 ppg) and Addison Stoller (10.9 ppg) leading a balanced offensive attack that takes 49.7 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. Valpo averages 67.2 points per game, allows 62.2, and shoots 40.7 percent overall, 29.9 percent on 3-pointers and 76.8 percent from the foul line. VU limits opponents to 37.3 percent shooting overall and 24.9 percent from beyond the arc, but is out-rebounded on average by 8.3 boards per game.
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