PINE BLUFF, Ark. – The Mississippi Valley State University women’s basketball program will be making the short trip northwest to the Natural State with an eye on finishing strong during the final leg of the 2021-22 regular season.
Records: Mississippi Valley State (3-20, 2-13 SWAC) | Arkansas-Pine Bluff (11-14, 7-7 SWAC)
Location: Pine Bluff, Arkansas – H.O. Clemmons Arena
Series History: Mississippi Valley State Leads 39-24
Last Meeting: January 29, 2022 | Arkansas-Pine Bluff 75, Mississippi Valley State 63 | Itta Bena, Mississippi (R.W. Harrison HPER Complex)
Winning Streak: Arkansas-Pine Bluff (W6) | Mississippi Valley State’s Last Win: March 9, 2019
Mississippi Valley State Overview
MVSU is hoping to put an end to its longest losing streak in program history against the Lady Lions, who have taken six straight in the series history.
Valley State has leaned on its defense to do the heavy lifting most of the season and it has delivered, forcing the 14th-most turnovers per game in the nation at 21.30. It also gobbles up the offensive boards, ranking top-30 in the NCAA for that statistic with an average of 15.2 second chance opportunities a contest.
The primary reason for the rebounding prowess has been the rise of Sarah Moore during her lone season in The Delta, having grabbed a top-50 best rebounding average per game at 9.7 while ranking third in the conference with a total of 213 boards.
Mikayla Etienne has been consistent on the perimeter in putting up long balls, sitting third in the SWAC for three-pointers made per night, draining 1.73 long balls on average.
Ronni Williams has saved her best year for last, leading the league and posting a top-50 national ranking in both assists per game (5.2) and steals per game (2.45) to go along with the third-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference at 1.35.
Scouting The Opponent: Arkansas-Pine Bluff Lady Lions
The Black and Gold have all but solidified a spot in the field of eight in Birmingham but are looking to jump Grambling and even possibly Prairie View to get as high as sixth.
Pine Bluff has been one of the most effective foul drawing teams in the NCAA, getting to the charity stripe 555 times, the seventh-most in the country and making the 18th-most with 384.
Zaay Green is the only other SWAC student-athlete to log a triple-double besides Ronni Williams, leading the Lady Lions in points (16.5), rebounds (7.4), assists (5.0), and steals (2.18) per game while ranking no lower than seventh in the conference for each of those four categories.
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