2021 Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournament

The 2021 Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournament, promoted as Hoops in the Heartland, was part of the 2020–21 NCAA Division I women's basketball season and was played in Moline, Illinois, March 11–14, 2021, at the TaxSlayer Center. On March 13, prior to the semifinal game between Missouri State and Bradley, Missouri State withdrew from the tournament. The remaining teams were reseeded, Bradley was rescheduled to play Loyola Chicago, and top-seeded Drake advanced to the finals, awaiting their opponent.^[1] Bradley won the tournament, its first title, receiving the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA tournament.^[2]

2021 Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2020–21
Teams	10
Site	TaxSlayer Center Moline, Illinois
Champions	Bradley (1st title)
Winning coach	Andrea Gorski (1st title)
Television	ESPN+
Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournaments ← 2020 2022 →

2020–21 Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 20 Missouri State	16	–	0		1.000			23	–	4		.852
Drake	13	–	5		.722			18	–	12		.600
Illinois State	12	–	6		.667			16	–	9		.640
Northern Iowa	11	–	7		.611			17	–	13		.567
Bradley†	10	–	8		.556			17	–	12		.586
Loyola–Chicago	8	–	10		.444			12	–	15		.444
Valparaiso	7	–	9		.438			12	–	13		.480
Southern Illinois	5	–	13		.278			9	–	16		.360
Indiana State	2	–	12		.143			5	–	15		.250
Evansville	2	–	16		.111			6	–	18		.250
† 2021 MVC tournament winner As of July 7, 2024 Rankings from AP poll

Seeds

2021 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament seeds
Seed	School	Conf.	Over.
1	Missouri State‡#	16–0	20–2
2	Drake#	13–5	15–10
3	Illinois State#	12–6	15–6
4	UNI	11–7	14–11
5	Bradley#	10–8	14–11
6	Loyola Chicago#	8–10	10–12
7	Valparaiso	7–9	11–12
8	Southern Illinois	5–13	8–15
9	Indiana State	2–12	5–14
10	Evansville	2–16	6–17
‡ – Missouri Valley Conference regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. # - Received a single-bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.

Schedule

Session	Game	Time	Matchup	Score	Television
First round – Thursday, March 11
1	1	4:30 pm	No. 8 Southern Illinois vs. No. 9 Indiana State	90–89OT	ESPN+
	2	7:30 pm	No. 7 Valparaiso vs. No. 10 Evansville	65–52
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 12
2	3	11:00 am	No. 1 Missouri State vs. No. 8 Southern Illinois	70–59	ESPN+
	4	2:00 pm	No. 4 UNI vs. No. 5 Bradley	59–62
3	5	5:00 pm	No. 2 Drake vs. No. 7 Valparaiso	71–60
	6	8:00 pm	No. 3 Illinois State vs. No. 6 Loyola Chicago	60–61
Semifinals – Saturday, March 13
4	7	1:00 pm	No. 1 Missouri State vs. No. 2 Drake	Canceled	ESPN+
	8	6:00 pm	No. 5 Bradley vs. No. 6 Loyola Chicago	70–56
Championship – Sunday, March 14
5	9	4:00 pm	No. 2 Drake vs. No. 5 Bradley	70–78	ESPN+
Game times in CT. Rankings denote tournament seed.

Tournament bracket

	First round Thursday, March 11 ESPN+					Quarterfinals Friday, March 12 ESPN+					Semifinals Saturday, March 13 ESPN+					Championship Sunday, March 14 ESPN+
						1	Missouri State	70
						8	Southern Illinois	59
	8	Southern Illinois	90*
	9	Indiana State	89
											1	Missouri State
											2	Drake	NC
						4	UNI	59
						5	Bradley	62
																2	Drake	70
																5	Bradley	78
						2	Drake	71
						7	Valparaiso	60
	7	Valparaiso	65
	10	Evansville	52
											5	Bradley	70
											6	Loyola Chicago	56
						3	Illinois State	60
						6	Loyola Chicago	61

* denotes overtime

See also

• 2021 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament