Continuing the #ValpoInTheValley series, which will take a look at each of the Missouri Valley Conference’s 17 sports, is women’s basketball. Learn about the landscape of The Valley in women’s basketball, how Valpo has fared against opponents from The Valley in the past, and hear from head coach Tracey Dorow as she talks about what the program is looking forward to entering its first season of MVC competition and who will lead the way in 2017-18 for her team.

MVC Women’s Basketball

All 10 member institutions in The Valley sponsor women’s basketball. Valpo will compete against Bradley, Drake, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Loyola, Missouri State, UNI and Southern Illinois in conference play in 2017-18.

Did You Know?

Valpo head coach Tracey Dorow was part of the initial group of female student-athletes to compete under the Missouri Valley Conference umbrella, as the conference celebrates 25 years of women’s sports in The Valley this season. Playing at Illinois State from 1990-93, Dorow spent her first two years playing in the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference before the conference merged with the MVC in the summer of 1992.

A Look Back at 2016-17

MVC Regular Season 

MVC Championship

March 12, 2017 – Moline, Ill. – Drake 74, UNI 69 (ot)

NCAA Tournament

Round of 64 – Starkville, Miss. – DePaul 88, UNI 67

Manhattan, Kan. – Kansas State 67, Drake 54

Valparaiso

The Crusader women’s basketball program featured a young squad in 2016-17, as 10 letterwinners from last year’s team will return in 2017-18.

Valpo’s season was highlighted by the play of Dani Franklin, a Second Team All-Horizon League selection. A junior last season, Franklin tallied 559 total points – second-most in a single season in program history. She paced the Crusaders with 18 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, and also shot 85.8% from the foul line – the second-best single-season mark in program history. She enters her senior season with 1,236 career points, which already ranks sixth in the Crusader annals.

The Valley on the National Stage

Missouri State’s run to the Final Four as a number-five seed in the 2001 NCAA Tournament highlights The Valley’s past success nationally in women’s basketball.

Missouri State took down Toledo, Rutgers, Duke and Washington in 2001 on its way to the Final Four before eventually succumbing to Purdue in the national semifinal.

2001 also marked the fourth year in a stretch of five straight years where the MVC sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament in women’s basketball. More recently, The Valley has been a multi-bid league two of the last five seasons, including last year, when Drake and UNI both represented the conference as ten seeds.

Valpo Versus The Valley

The Crusaders have little recent history against opposition from The Valley, but do own a sterling record against their most common opponent of the other nine schools in the conference.

Valpo and Loyola shared league affiliation in the Horizon League from 2006 through 2013, during which time the Crusaders built up most of an 18-5 advantage in the all-time series against the Ramblers.

Outside of Loyola, the Crusaders have played just four total games against current MVC members over the last decade, and have never met either Missouri State or Southern Illinois on the hardwood.

Looking Ahead to 2017-18

The Valley plays a balanced schedule in women’s basketball, so Valpo will see each of the other nine conference teams twice in 2017-18 – once at the ARC and once on the road – in an 18-game conference schedule. The conference schedule is slated to open in late December, just before the start of the New Year.

All 10 MVC teams advance to Hoops in the Heartland, The Valley’s women’s basketball tournament which is played in Moline, Ill. The tournament moved to a neutral, single-site format beginning in 2008 and spent its first eight years under that format in St. Charles, Mo. Last season was the second year the tournament was contested in Moline.