St. LOUIS – The Missouri State Lady Bears are the overwhelming favorite to repeat as Missouri Valley Conference champions according to a vote of the league's head coaches, media representatives and sports information directors, it was announced Tuesday, Oct. 13. Additionally, senior guard Brice Calip and junior forward Jasmine Franklin are on the five-player preseason all-MVC team after earning first-team all-Valley honors last season.

The Lady Bears have been voted to win the MVC 11 times previously, going on to claim a league title on eight of those occasions, and have met or exceeded their preseason poll selection each of the last four seasons. Missouri State went 26-4 overall and 16-2 in league play in 2019-20 as the outright regular season champions, ending the year ranked 19th in the USA Today Coaches Poll, 23rd by the Associated Press and eighth in the NCAA RPI, the highest finish ever for an MVC school.

Calip collected MVC Defensive Player of the Year honors last year and averaged 12.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game, adding 38 steals and shooting 80.4 percent from the foul line while ranking second in the league in free throw makes and attempts. She also led the MVC and ranked 22nd nationally with a 2.34 assist-to-turnover ratio, good for the second-best single-season mark in MSU history. The Sapulpa, Okla., native enters her final season with 994 career points.

Franklin averaged 10.9 points and an MVC-leading 8.7 rebounds per contest last season while also ranking among the Valley's top 10 and leading the Lady Bears with 34 blocks, 48 steals and a .563 field goal percentage as a two-time MVC Player of the Week. The Fayetteville, Ark., product also became the second player in school history to reach 500 career rebounds as a sophomore.

Missouri State received 33 first-place votes and 360 total points in the poll, followed by Bradley with 328 points and the remaining seven No. 1 votes. UNI (288) and Drake (282) were neck-and-neck in the third and fourth spots, with Illinois State (223), Southern Illinois (201), Valparaiso (176), Loyola (133), Indiana State (129) and Evansville (80) rounding out the poll.

In addition to Calip and Franklin, the preseason all-conference team includes Gabi Haack and Lasha Petree (MVP) of Bradley and UNI's Karli Rucker.

The Lady Bears are set to begin their season on Nov. 27 at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla. The tournament bracket and remaining non-conference schedule will be finalized in the near future. The MVC schedule begins for Missouri State with a New Year's Day game at Evansville.

Season ticket information will be available once the entire schedule is finalized. Initial inquiries can be directed to Duane Miller by phone at (417) 836-8899 or email at DuaneMiller@MissouriState.edu.