March madness has a way of making people forget about everything except the big blue bloods, but if you weren't watching Evansville this past spring, you missed the real story. Honestly, the mvc women's basketball tournament 2025 was probably the most chaotic, high-scoring stretch of hoops the Valley has seen in decades. We aren't talking about slow, grinding defensive battles here.
Murray State didn't just win. They basically set the nets on fire.
The Racers walked into the Ford Center and decided that defense was optional as long as you could score 90 points a night. They ended up putting 265 points on the board across just three games. That's a new tournament record, by the way. They broke a mark held by Drake since 2007, and the wildest part is that Drake needed four games to do it back then. Murray State did it in three.
The Katelyn Young Show at the MVC Women's Basketball Tournament 2025
You can't talk about this tournament without talking about Katelyn Young. She’s the kind of player who makes opposing coaches want to pull their hair out. Going into the championship game against Belmont, everyone knew she was the focal point, yet she still dropped 34 points like it was a casual Sunday practice.
During that final, she hit a milestone that sounds fake: 3,000 career points.
She is only the 14th player in NCAA Division I history to hit that mark. Think about the legends who have played this game—Caitlin Clark, Kelsey Plum, Maya Moore—and realize Katelyn Young is in that same stratosphere of scoring. In the second quarter of the championship game alone, she outscored the entire Belmont team 16 to 14.
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The Ford Center was buzzing. It felt less like a mid-major tournament and more like a coronation.
Why the Ford Center Changed the Vibe
For years, "Hoops in the Heartland" was synonymous with Moline, Illinois. Moving the mvc women's basketball tournament 2025 to Evansville, Indiana, was a bit of a gamble. Fans are creatures of habit. But the Ford Center actually worked. It felt intimate but loud.
Maybe it was the local Evansville fans showing up, or maybe it was the fact that the Missouri Valley is just deeper than it used to be. You’ve got teams like Belmont and Murray State who are relatively new to the conference, but they’ve completely shifted the power dynamics. The old guard of Drake and Missouri State is still there, but they’re fighting for oxygen now.
Breaking Down the Bracket Chaos
The opening rounds were a bloodbath for the lower seeds. Bradley, coming in as the No. 9 seed, managed to upset Valparaiso, which set a weird tone for the weekend. People love a Cinderella story, but the top of the Valley was just too strong this year.
- Quarterfinals: Murray State blew the doors off Bradley 86-50. It wasn't even a contest by halftime.
- The Drake Scare: The semifinals gave us the game of the tournament. Murray State vs. Drake. Final score: 96-90. It was a track meet. Drake’s Katie Dinnebier, the back-to-back MVC Player of the Year, was doing everything humanly possible to keep the Bulldogs alive, but the Racers' depth was too much.
- Belmont's Run: The Bruins are so disciplined. They took down a very good Missouri State team 76-67 in the other semi, setting up a title game between the league’s two newest powerhouses.
Belmont plays a style that usually suffocates teams. They’re guard-heavy, they move the ball, and they rarely beat themselves. But they ran into a buzzsaw.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Valley
There’s this lingering misconception that mid-major basketball is just "lesser" than the Power 4. If you actually watched the mvc women's basketball tournament 2025, you saw professional-level shot-making.
Take Halli Poock, for instance.
In the championship game, she was 6-of-10 from three-point range. Those aren't "lucky" shots. These are high-level sets being run by Rechelle Turner, who has turned Murray State from a 15-win team into a dominant force in just three years.
Also, can we talk about Camryn Runner? The Evansville freshman was the only rookie in the top 20 for scoring this season. She’s out here making nearly 200 free throws in a single season. That’s Jackie Stiles territory. The league is young, it's fast, and it's increasingly centered around elite guard play.
Looking Toward the 2026 Shift
The dust has barely settled on the 2025 trophy, but the landscape is already shifting. The tournament is moving again. In 2026, the Valley heads to Coralville, Iowa, to play at the Xtream Arena.
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If you’re a fan, you should probably start looking at tickets now because the "Drake factor" in Iowa is real. They draw massive crowds when they play at home, and moving the tournament to their backyard is going to make the 2026 edition feel very different from the Indiana vibe we just had.
Final Thoughts on the 2025 Run
Murray State’s 83-62 win over Belmont in the final wasn't just a win; it was a statement. They earned their first-ever NCAA Tournament berth as a member of the Missouri Valley. They proved that their high-octane offense wasn't just a regular-season fluke.
If you missed it, go back and find the highlights of the second quarter of that title game. It was a masterclass.
Actionable Insights for Fans:
- Watch the Transfers: Keep an eye on the portal this summer. With Katelyn Young graduating, Murray State will have a massive hole to fill, and every coach in the Valley is currently hunting for the next great scorer.
- Coralville Prep: If you plan on attending the 2026 tournament, book your hotels in the Iowa City/Coralville area at least six months out. The Xtream Arena is smaller (around 5,100 capacity) compared to the Ford Center, so tickets will be a much tougher get.
- Follow the Mid-Major Polls: Don't just check the AP Top 25. Follow the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year watchlists. Players like Katie Dinnebier and Lacy Stokes are perennial contenders who will be back to terrorize the league next season.
The Missouri Valley isn't just a "one-bid league" in spirit; it's a collection of programs that play some of the most entertaining basketball in the country. The 2025 tournament was the proof.