SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (CNN/SI) -- She was the second leading scorer in the nation last season, but most basketball fans never got a chance to see Jackie Stiles play.

The Southwest Missouri State guard was named the Missouri Valley Conference Most Valuable Player, made several All-America teams and recorded the best sophomore season in SMS history.

At a bigger name school she might have garnered attention similar to Tamika Catchings, Kelly Miller, Becky Hammon or Stephanie White-McCarty.

A story was passed around town last season that Stiles, after getting benched for part of the all-important Drake game, would be leaving SMS for the University of Connecticut. A rumor like that didn't sit well with the Lady Bears' rabidly loyal fans, who set national records of their own for attendance.

"I had a lot of community people come up to me saying, 'Oh, please stay,' and my own teammates were upset because they thought I wanted to be somewhere else," Stiles says. "But people had the wrong idea."

It was a rumor fueled by her own father, who mentioned after the Drake game that his daughter might have a better chance of playing on a national championship team if she transferred.

Stiles now says that the story was blown out of proportion and that she never really considered leaving Springfield. But it took some work to win back the trust of her teammates.

"We had team meetings about it and talked it through. In the end, I would say it made us rethink our goals and brought us closer together," she says. "Bottom line is, if we had been winning I don't think any of that would have happened."

Refocusing goals may have been the best thing for the Lady Bears who, after stumbling at the start, came out of the controversy winning 15 straight games. The team ended with a 25-7 overall record, won the Missouri Valley Conference crown (15-3) and advanced to the NCAA Division I tournament for the eighth time in the last nine seasons.

"We had an extremely young team going into the NCAA Tournament last year. This year we have veteran players and three new people with an exceptional understanding of the game," she says. "The first 20 practices so far have looked phenomenal."

The pressure still falls mainly on Stiles, who averaged 25.7 points a game last year. The native of Claflin, Kan., is a preseason Naismith Player of the Year Award finalist entering her junior season, and she needs just 504 points to break the all-time SMS scoring record.

"We gain a lot of confidence around Jackie's ability," Burnett said. "But the only record we are looking to break right now is out team record."

Stiles agrees.

"I really don't like to talk about records, if those things come and we are winning, that's great," she says. "I just want to do what it takes to win games, such as becoming a better defensive player and improving my passing."

The main concern now is keeping the star player injury-free. During the Lady Bears' first exhibition game Nov. 5, Stiles suffered a minor concussion after colliding with another player. The 5-foot-8 point guard ended the game with 26 points in the 81-58 win over Norrkoping Prodern of Sweden at the Hammons Student Center.

Stiles has been taking it easy at practice, but expects to be fully recovered for the first regular season game at home Nov. 19 against Northwestern State University.

"I have put a lot of expectations on myself this year," she says. "But in the end, what's really important is that we win games."