Women's Basketball

Redbirds Receive Top Seed in MVC Tournament

[March 10, 2008]  NORMAL -- The Illinois State women's basketball team (23-6, 13-5 MVC) will be the No. 1 seed in the 2008 State Farm MVC Women's Basketball Tournament. The Redbirds finished the regular season in a tie for first place with Drake and Evansville, but received the top seed by virtue of their 3-1 record against the Bulldogs and Purple Aces this season. ISU was also the No. 1 seed in 1988 and 1989, when the conference was known as the Gateway. The Redbirds will play the winner of the No. 8 Bradley (12-17, 6-12 MVC)/No. 9 Southern Illinois (9-19, 5-13 MVC) opening-round game in a quarterfinal matchup on Friday at 12:05 p.m.

Evansville (19-10, 13-5 MVC) is the No. 2 seed, after splitting the four games with ISU and Drake, and Drake (20-9, 13-5) picked up the No. 3 seed. Creighton (19-10, 12-6 MVC) earned the No. 4 seed, Missouri State (11-18, 9-9 MVC) is No. 5, and Indiana State (14-14, 8-10 MVC) picked up the No. 6 seed. Northern Iowa (12-17, 8-10 MVC), Bradley, Southern Illinois and Wichita State (9-21, 3-15 MVC) round out the field and will all play in the opening round on Thursday.

For the first time in the history of the conference, the MVC tournament will be at a neutral site. The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., will serve as the home of the Valley championship. The semifinal and final games will be broadcast live on FSN Midwest.

State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament seeds

1. Illinois State (23-6, 13-5 MVC)

2. Evansville (19-10, 13-5 MVC)

3. Drake (20-9, 13-5 MVC)

4. Creighton (19-10, 12-6 MVC)

5. Missouri State (11-18, 9-9 MVC)

6. Indiana State (14-14, 8-10 MVC)

7. Northern Iowa (12-17, 8-10 MVC)

8. Bradley (12-17, 6-12 MVC)

9. Southern Illinois (9-19, 5-13 MVC)

10. Wichita State (9-21, 3-15 MVC)

(Bracket) [To download Adobe Acrobat Reader for the PDF file, click here.]

[Text from file received from Jimmy Knodel, assistant media relations director, Illinois State University]