ST. LOUIS — Getting a taste of the site of the next Missouri Valley Conference women’s tournament, MVC coaches and players convened at the Enterprise Center on Oct. 14 for the Arch Tip-Off Event.
The conference announced in June that the women’s and men’s tournaments would combine starting in 2027. Both tournaments will be held the same week next March at the Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis. While the men have been playing under the popular ‘Arch Madness’ moniker since 1991, the women’s tournament has rotated among different locations, including Moline, Ill., Evansville, Ind, and Coralville, Iowa.
During a breakfast panel at media day, Tanya Warren, who is entering her 20th season as women’s head coach at the University of Northern Iowa, spoke about the significance of combining the men’s and women’s tournaments.
“Bigger stage, visibility, exposure … it’s a basketball league, and the Valley runs deep on both sides. We talked about it — the history on the women’s side, the history on the men’s side, and being able to bring that to one event, unified, is going to be really, really special,” she said. “I am extremely thankful for this opportunity, but I think it brings great exposure, visibility, sponsorship, all of those things to our women who also deserve to be in the spotlight.”
The 2027 Arch Madness will be a 10-team tournament from March 3-7, leaving one of the MVC’s 11 teams at home for both the women’s and men’s sides. Under the new structure, the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds will advance directly to the semifinal round.
In the annual preseason poll — voted on by Valley head coaches, communications directors and a media panel — Murray State was picked to win the regular season for the third straight year. The Racers are also looking to win their third straight tournament title with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
MVC Preseason Poll Top Six
(First-place votes in parentheses)
1. Murray State (41): 477 points
2. Illinois State: 396 points
3. Belmont (2): 375 points
4. Northern Iowa (1): 343 points
5. Drake: 317 points
6. UIC: 267 points
The IX Sports spoke to each of the 11 coaches at media day. Below are their hopes and expectations for the upcoming season.
Belmont | Bradley | Drake | Evansville | Illinois State | Indiana State | Murray State | Southern Illinois | University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) | University of Northern Iowa (UNI) | Valparaiso
Belmont
2025-26 record: 20-12 (16-4 MVC, second in conference)
Head Coach: Bart Brooks (10th season)
With the NCAA Tournament’s expansion to 76 teams, Belmont head coach Bart Brooks hopes his challenging non-conference slate strengthens his team’s post-season chances.
As one of the MVC’s top teams, the Belmont Bruins will host South Florida and Columbia in the Opening Statement, a new cross-conference event featuring the top teams from the MVC, American Conference, Atlantic 10 Conference and Ivy League.
“We find out very quickly what we need to work on, and hopefully, kind of where we stack with the rest of the kind of those teams competing for those now new at large-spots,” Brooks told The IX Sports.
Belmont will also face Tennessee, LSU, Iowa State, Marquette and Vanderbilt before their MVC season begins Dec. 22 against Bradley.
Brooks will look to junior guard Quinn Eubank, who averaged 6.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game last season, and fifth-year center KK Brodie, who averaged 5.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in her first season with Belmont after transferring from Pepperdine.
“Quinn is our most veteran returner,” Brooks said. “She knows what we do better than anyone, and she’s led, and her game has progressively improved the most.”
Bradley
2025-26 record: 20-13 (13-7 MVC, third in conference)
Head Coach: Chaia Meier (first season)
Chaia Meier hadn’t given much thought to leaving Marquette after two years as an assistant coach. But when Bradley called in late March, she was drawn to returning to central Illinois, where she grew up.
“My parents are there, and my sisters, and their kids, and my kids’ cousins, and you know my community, and everybody I grew up with,” she told The IX Sports. “I grew up with the Valley where I went to basketball camp and all the games.”
Her first order of business as Bradley’s new head coach was recruiting her own players to stay after Kate Popovec-Goss left for Boston College after an impressive regular season and MVC tournament.
“There were eight available to stay, and they were all kind of one foot in the portal. And seven of them stayed,” she said. “I spent my whole first week recruiting. That was my number one. All this stuff coming at me, and I was like, ‘no, I’m just gonna focus on keeping these kids here.’
“I said to them, I’m a risk to them. But if they go in the portal, they go to a new coach. That’s a risk too. And they love Bradley. Kids that go to Bradley love Bradley. And I said, ‘you love your school. You go here. That’s a risk. So now you got two risks.’”
Junior guard Mya Wardle helped with Meier’s “recruiting” process. A Peoria native and daughter of Bradley men’s coach Brian Wardle, she started in all 33 games last season, averaging 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game while playing an average 31.5 minutes.
Meier will also depend on senior guard/forward Claire McDougall, who was averaging 8.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game before tearing her ACL early last season. Graduate forward Charia Smith came to Bradley with Meier from Marquette, where she averaged 3.3 points and 1.7 rebounds per game over 28 games with six starts.
“This is actually one of the most naturally led teams that I have ever coached, and I’ve been doing this 20 years,” Meier said. “Mya is born to lead and runs it like a tight ship.”
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Drake
2025-26 record: 12-20 (10-10 MVC, sixth in conference)
Head Coach: Allison Pohlman (sixth season)
Drake already faced an uphill battle last season after losing four key players to graduation, including two-time MVC Player of the Year Katie Dinnebier. But then the injury bug hit and the Bulldogs could never recover, posting its first losing season since 2012-13.
“Ultimately, it was a changing of the guard,” coach Allison Pohlman told The IX Sports. “When you graduate four impact players, and then when we stepped into that space, we were just super optimistic about an unbelievable recruiting class. But unfortunately, you never plan for injuries, and so we had two freshmen in that class that ended up tearing their ACLs, who both happened to be point guards, and then along with that we had another point guard who had significant contributions and experience who dislocated her ankle halfway through the season.
“So, from a point guard perspective, we were taking applications and plugging people in,” she added. “Credit to those players for being able to do what they were asked to do, but it’s not what people were used to as far as Drake women’s basketball and the success and lineage and history that we’ve had. But we’re just really excited about taking the next steps forward.”
The upside of dealing with injuries is the experience gained for players up and down the roster.
“Anna Becker had a phenomenal freshman year for us, and I think she’s continued to add things to her game and gotten stronger, and her understanding of our offensive and defensive systems is definitely enhanced,” Pohlman said. “Brooklin Dailey [senior guard] sprinted onto the scene last year and has just been one of our more consistent contributors.”
“A lot of the other players that we have and leaned into gained a lot of experience last year,” she added. “You got Maggie Taylor in that class, Lexi Carlsen, Grace Knutson. Those players that got a lot of experience, and now we get to see their chemistry unfold.”
Evansville
2025-26 record: 10-25 (5-15 MVC, ninth in conference)
Head Coach: Ben Wierzba (first season)
A lot has changed since March when Evansville went on an incredible run in the MVC Tournament and reached the championship game before falling to Murray State, 91-70.
Head coach Robyn Scherr surprisingly resigned less than two weeks later to pursue opportunities outside of collegiate coaching and spend more time with her family.
Ben Wierzba has faced adversity since being named head coach in April. In early July, two of his players were involved in a mutli-vehicle accident, and in September, sophomore guard Jordan Scott was killed in a single-vehicle crash. Scott was a transfer from Wabash Valley College and had spent the summer with the Evansville team, including her sister, freshman guard Jayden Scott.
Wierzba wears a “24” pin on his shirt in honor of Jordan Scott.
“I told our girls that we’ve got to adapt and adjust with everything. We got to keep moving forward, but we’re still going to remember Jordan. And but it’s our job to keep getting better every day and keep pushing them,” he told The IX Sports.
Returning junior guards Avery Kelley and Kaiden Kreinhagen have helped the 10 newcomers integrate into the team.
“I think those two have been really good at helping the process of me taking over and them coming back and helping the new girls just get around campus when they first got here and just being older, being able to lead the girls and show them how things are done at the Division I level,” Wierzba said.
Illinois State
2025-26 record: 24-14 (13-7 MVC, fourth in conference)
Head Coach: Kristen Gillespie (10th season)
With seven players returning from last season’s team that advanced to the WNIT Championship game, Illinois State has been ranked second in the preseason poll, which comes as no surprise to head coach Kristen Gillespie.
“I think with the players that we’re returning — Trista Fayta, who had a record-setting year for a point guard, she’s top 10 in the country in assists, and Nevaeh Thomas, who got injured really early in our season, she is one of the best post players in our league. I think she’s one of the best post players in mid-major basketball,” Gillespie told The IX Sports. “And then we bring back two starting guards in sophomores Jaeden Pratt and Grace Nelson.”
The returners will be joined by eight newcomers, including transfers Chloe Spreen (Indiana), Hannah Chicken (Portland State), Ella Mason (Michigan Tech) and Jenna Van Schaik (Mercyhurst). The four incoming freshmen are led by Danyella Mporokoso, who was named the 2025-26 Gatorade Illinois Girls Basketball Player of the Year and a four-star recruit, averaging 28.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game as a senior at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora.
“We are further along than we’ve ever been in my 10 years at Illinois State, which is kind of challenging when you have such a new roster,” Gillespie said. “This group has the most depth. If we played tomorrow, we could play 10, 11 players, and I would have no problem with that. So it’s just been fun to see a mesh, and they’re just a super unselfish group right now.”
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Indiana State
2025-26 record: 10-22 (5-15 MVC, 10th in conference)
Head Coach: Marc Mitchell (third season)
Building off his first postseason win as Indiana State head coach, Marc Mitchell is looking for his returners to keep the momentum going.
The Sycamores defeated Southern Illinois, 81-69, in the first round of the MVC Tournament in March behind forward Amerie Flowers, who pulled down 14 rebounds and scored 14 points. Entering her junior year, Flowers hopes to build off her sophomore season in which she averaged 7.9 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.
Fifth year guard/forward Jayci Allen also played significant minutes last season, averaging 9.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
“They’re going to be very consistent for us this year,” Mitchell told The IX Sports of his returners.
After starting from scratch last season due to losing his entire 2024-25 roster to graduation and the transfer portal, Mitchell is looking for more consistency this season.
“We’ve got more depth this year at all positions, the camaraderie is so much better this year than we had last year,” he said. “I’m just really excited about our group of young women that we have.”
Murray State
2025-26 record: 31-4 (19-1 MVC, first in conference)
Head Coach: Rechelle Turner (10th season)
With the success of the Murray State program over the past couple years, it wouldn’t be surprising if some top players would look to join a larger, more lucrative program.
But the Racers will be returning the key pieces that have led them to two straight regular and conference titles, including senior guards Haven Ford and Keslyn Secrist, senior forward Sharnecce Currie-Jelks, and reigning MVC Player of the Year senior guard Halli Poock.
“The loyalty to our program from our players has just been second to none. I think it begins with relationships,” head coach Rechelle Turner said. “We truly care about them on and off the floor. We try to create an environment that they want to be there, no matter how far away from home they are. Murray State is also home, and I just think that my staff has done a great job of building those relationships, and we’re very selective about who we bring into our locker room.
“Our young women love each other. They love to compete together. They love to play together, on and off the court,” she continued. “And I think that the accumulation of all those things is what’s allowed us to keep them at Murray State.”
When Murray State first joined the MVC in 2022-23 from the Ohio Valley Conference, it didn’t seem possible they would rise to the top within three seasons. The Racers were 7-13 in their first MVC season and improved to 12-8 during the 2023-24 campaign.
“The transformation to the Valley was extremely hard the first year,” Turner said. “We just got smacked every single night, and we realized that we had to make a change, and that’s when the style of play change came, and the system came in. We realized that we had to do some things to help elevate ourselves quickly.”
“We were able to recruit and get players to buy into that, and we’ve just been blessed with so many great players that have come through that have been able to score the basketball. I mean, obviously, that’s the name of the game for us. We want to score as many points as possible,” she added.
With two automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament under their belt, the Racers would like to advance to the second round. The Racers fell to Iowa, 92-57, in 2025 and lost to Maryland, 99-67, in 2026.
“One of the things that we’ve talked about is the next step for our program — being able to advance in the NCAA tournament,” Turner said. “So with our closed scrimmages preseason and then elevating the level of our schedule, we try to put our players in position to be as uncomfortable as possible to be able to be prepared for those type of teams. You have to understand the physicality, the length, and athleticism that you’re going to go up against in the first round of that tournament.”
Southern Illinois
2025-26 record: 10-20 (7-13 MVC, eighth in conference)
Head Coach: Kelly Bond-White (fifth season)
Despite being picked to finish near the bottom of the conference in the preseason poll, head coach Kelly Bond-White has high expectations for the Salukis.
“What I love is the intentionality, and we know where our goal is, and we’re headed to the postseason,” she told The IX Sports. “This group wants to experience the postseason, and so that’s when you make goals, which I don’t do too often, but that’s where our vision is.”
She believes she has the right combination of players to exceed expectations and achieve those goals.
“Man, I love this group, love the resiliency of this group and how they’re coming together,” she told The IX Sports. “We have a really good balance of veterans that have been around the block in the Valley, mixed with some returners and with some kids that have had high-level experience in different conferences. And then the foolishness of youth, your babies, some freshmen that are just going after it. But the one thing I would love about this time of year is just the belief, the belief in our kids of where the program is headed.”
Leadership has been shared, Bond-White said, by senior guards Kynnedi Davis and Kayla Cooper.
“But what I love about this group is they don’t have to shoulder it. It’s not just two people,” she said. “One day it’s (T.T.) Tkiyah Nelson, and one day it’s (DePaul transfer) Shakara McCline, which we call her Live. It’s just they share it, and they’re willing to share it, and they follow each other.”
The Salukis welcome seven newcomers, including junior guard Braxcynn Baker, who transferred from Murray State.
University of Illinois Chicago (UIC)
2025-26 record: 14-18 (9-11 MVC, seventh in conference)
Head Coach: Ashleen Bracey (fifth season)
With three returning starters, UIC head coach Ashleen Bracey hopes to finish in the top four of the conference and get a bye in the MVC tournament.
Junior redshirt forward Julia Coleman leads the way, after averaging 16.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season, earning her a spot on the 2026 All-Missouri Valley Conference Third Team, All-MVC Defensive Team and All-MVC Newcomer Team. Junior guard Chantrel “TuTu” Clayton also started all 32 games last season, averaging 8.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Redshirt sophomore center Magdalena Winter averaged 5.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
“I think that we’ve established ourselves as a committed defensive team, and I think when you’re willing to defend, you can finish middle of the pack to higher,” Bracey told The IX Sports.
“I’m really excited about Coleman, Clayton and Winter coming back,” Bracey added. “The year before this, I had zero returning impact players. So to be able to have some continuity coming back, and then adding some nice pieces from the transfer portal, I think puts us in a good position to compete.”
UIC added nine newcomers, including senior guard Neveah Foster, who joins the Flames after a career-best 2025-26 season at IU Indy. Foster averaged 12.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 35.2% from three-point range, setting all-new career highs.
“We really made it a point in the transfer portal to go get big guards, a backup post player with size, and then continue our defensive philosophy and get better offensively,” Bracey said.
University of Northern Iowa (UNI)
2025-26 record: 18-14 (13-7 MVC, fifth in conference)
Head Coach: Tanya Warren (20th season)
Although they are still young, with just one senior and five freshmen, the UNI Panthers have been picked to finish in the top six of the conference, even receiving one first-place vote in the Preseason Poll. Coach Tanya Warren credits the program’s reputation for the ranking.
“The consistency through the years of us finishing in the top half of the league, no one’s done it more frequently than UNI women’s basketball on either the women or the men’s side,” Warren told The IX Sports. “So, I think it’s a sign of respect.”
In her second season at UNI, guard Jenna Twedt is the only senior on the squad. She had a solid campaign last season after transferring from Kirkwood Community College, averaging 14.6 points and 2.6 rebounds while starting in all 32 games for the Panthers.
Junior forward Elise Jaeger also is a returning starter after setting a UNI single-season record with 275 defensive rebounds last season as a sophomore. Warren said Jaeger is “a natural leader and is going to be in a little bit of a different role, especially offensively.”
Sophomore Abby Tuttle will be the point guard this season, Warren said, adding, “We’re asking her to lead a little bit more. It’s a new role for her, but she’s doing a terrific job.”
UNI also picked up transfer junior guard Callie Levin from Iowa, who will also make an instant impact.
“She’s a natural leader. She brings so many different dimensions to the game,” Warren said of the former Hawkeye. “You’re never sure until you get an opportunity to get a kid on campus, and on her visit, everything really just was very natural. It just felt right. It felt real. You never had to pull anything or really pretend.”
Valparaiso
2025-26 record: 0-32 (0-20 MVC, 11th in conference)
Head Coach: Courtney Boyd (second season)
After going 0-32 in her first year as Valparaiso’s head coach, Courtney Boyd gave her six returners the chance to consider other options.
“We gave them the opportunity because the reason we still do this is because we want them to have a great experience, and so 0-32, as a coaching staff, we didn’t know what we wanted to do, let alone as an 18- to 22-year-old,” Boyd told The IX Sports. “They called themselves the Big Six, and the Big Six returned, and they had a heck of a spring.”
“They grew together, and some of them were injured last year, some of them played last year, and some of them had a lot of success last year,” she added. “Every person that we signed throughout the portal season after that, they came because of who they met out of the Big Six, and I think that that was a big turning point for us.”
Sophomore guard Allia von Schlegell leads the way after averaging 11.2 points per game last season, earning her a spot on the All-Freshman Team.
“I think that what she had to do last year and the way she had to play — hopefully this year it’s a little less pressure for her having to show up every single night and be one of the only ones that can produce,” Boyd said.
Fifth-year senior guard Maci Rhoades, who sat out last season due to injury, will return this season.
“She was injured last season and asked, ‘Coach, can I redshirt so I can have a real season with you?’ You don’t do that in an 0-32 season if you don’t like what’s going on. So you know there’s a lot of respect for her, and she’s one of the most competitive people on our roster,” Boyd said.
Redshirt junior guard Raeven Raye-Redmond is the longest tenured player on the Valpo roster.
“She’s chosen not to go anywhere through two different coaches, through a season of last year, through an injury, she’s got quite the story, and so to be able to keep her and her level-headed self and her competitiveness and ability, I think we’ve got a great core three, and they all lead in a different way, which I’m excited about,” Boyd said.
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