Illinois State, the unanimous choice as the pre-season conference favorite, finished the regular-season with a 24-6 record, including a 15-3 conference mark, and earned its second-straight No. 1 seed for the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament, March 12-15, at The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.

The Redbirds claimed their first outright conference championship since the 1988-89 season after being part of a three-way tie last season. The top seed is the fourth all-time for Illinois State and the regular-season title is its fifth – shared or outright.

Creighton wrapped up conference play with a 14-4 record and has earned the No. 2 seed at the league tournament.

This year’s tournament is the second neutral-site event in the conference’s history, following last season’s inaugural event. The top seed has won the conference tournament in 14 of 23 seasons and a team that has won or shared the regular-season title has gone on to win the tournament title 16 times. Illinois State won the 2008 championship from the No. 1 seed, topping Drake in the title game.

The tournament, which features nine games over four days, culminates on Sunday, March 15, with a nationally televised game on FS Midwest as part of the MVC Television Network at 3 p.m. Central. Both semifinals will also air on the MVC Television Network at 5 and 7:30 p.m. Central on March 14.

The opening round games on Thursday evening, as well as the four quarterfinal games on Friday will be shown live online as part of a special MVC Tournament package on the league’s website. Log on to www.mvc-sports.com for more details.

Missouri State has won the most MVC Tournament titles, nine, of any Valley school, its last coming in 2006. Drake has claimed five tournament titles. Illinois State won the league’s first tournament title in 1983. The last time a Valley school defended its tournament title was in 2004 when Missouri State repeated on its home floor.