Illinois State Claims the No. 1 Seed for 2010 State Farm MVC Women's Basketball Tournament
ST. LOUIS - Illinois State, which won back-to-back outright Missouri
Valley Conference women's basketball titles for the first time in
program history, has earned the No. 1 seed in the State Farm MVC
Tournament for the third-straight year. The Redbirds finished with a
regular-season record of 23-6, including a 16-2 mark in league play,
securing their second-best conference record and second-most
regular-season wins ever. Illinois State also produced a 15-game
winning streak through most of MVC action, its second-best string of
consecutive wins in school history. The top seed is the fifth all-time
for Illinois State and the regular-season title is its seventh - shared
or outright.
Creighton wrapped up conference play with a 13-5 record and has earned the No. 2 seed at the league tournament.
This
year's tournament - the third neutral-site event in the conference's
history - begins on Thursday, March 11, at The Family Arena in St.
Charles. Mo. The top seed has won the conference tournament in 14 of
24 seasons and a team that has won or shared the regular-season title
has gone on to win the tournament title 16 times. Illinois State won
the 2008 championship from the No. 1 seed, topping Drake in the title
game.
The tournament, which features nine games over four
days, culminates on Sunday, March 14, with a nationally televised game
on FS Midwest as part of the MVC Television Network at 2:30 p.m. CST.
Both semifinals will also air on the MVC Television Network at 5 and
7:30 p.m. CST on Saturday, March 13.
The opening round games
on Thursday evening, as well as the four quarterfinal games on Friday
will be shown live online as part of a special MVC Tournament package
on the league's website. Log on to www.mvc-sports.com for more
details.
Missouri State has won the most MVC Tournament titles,
nine, of any Valley school, its last coming in 2006. Drake has claimed
five tournament titles. Illinois State won the league's first
tournament title in 1983. Last season, ninth-seeded Evansville became
the lowest-seeded team to claim the State Farm MVC Women's Basketball
Tournament title. The last time a Valley school defended its
tournament title was in 2004 when Missouri State repeated on its home
floor.
2010 STATE FARM MISSOURI VALLEY CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Thursday, March 11 -- Session I [No Television]
Game 1 -- #8 Indiana State (16-13, 7-11) vs. #9 Southern Illinois (5-23, 4-14), 5 p.m. [MVC Live]
Game 2 -- #7 Drake (14-14, 7-11) vs. #10 Evansville (4-25, 1-17), 8:30 p.m. [MVC Live]
Friday, March 12 -- Session II
Game 3 -- #1 Illinois State (23-6, 16-2) vs. Winner Game 1, noon [MVC Live]
Game 4 -- #4 Bradley (16-12, 12-6) vs. #5 UNI (14-15, 10-8), 2:30 p.m. [MVC Live]
Friday, March 12 -- Session III
Game 5 -- #2 Creighton (18-9, 13-5) vs. Winner of Game 2, 6 p.m. [MVC Live]
Game 6 -- #3 Missouri State (20-9, 12-6) vs. #6 Wichita State (16-13, 8-10), 8:30 p.m. [MVC Live]
Saturday, March 13 -- Session IV
Game 7 -- Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 5 p.m. [MVC TV Network]
Game 8 -- Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 7:30 p.m. [MVC TV Network]
Sunday, March 14 -- Session V
Championship -- Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2:30 p.m. [MVC TV Network]
3/8/2010 12:05:17 PM
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