Valparaiso (3-2, 0-0 MVC)
Game #6 - Wednesday, Dec. 16 - 1 p.m.
Xavier (3-0, 0-0 Big East)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: A rare weekday afternoon home game is on the slate for the Valpo women’s basketball program as it looks for its second consecutive win at the ARC on Wednesday, welcoming Big East foe Xavier to town.
Previously: Carie Weinman and Caitlin Morrison have shared the court plenty over the years, playing prep and AAU basketball together prior to teaming up together at Valpo. Saturday likely ranks up there as one of the most memorable performances for the duo, as Morrison set a new career high in the scoring column - 18 points - and Weinman posted her highest output in a Valpo uniform - 24 points - to lead the way as the Valpo women’s basketball team rolled to a 75-51 victory over Western Michigan in its home opener.
Following Valpo Basketball: Streaming Video: ESPN+
Radio: WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso)
Live Stats/Streaming Audio: Available via ValpoAthletics.com
Head Coach Mary Evans: Mary Evans (28-38) is in her third season as head coach of the Valpo women’s basketball program in 2020-21. Evans led the Valpo program to a remarkable season across the board in 2019-20, one that concluded among the nation’s top turnarounds from the season before. Valpo posted a 17-12 record in Evans’ second season at the helm, the 17 wins the most by a Valpo team since the 2006-07 campaign and the 10th-most in a single season in program history. Valpo improved its record by 10.5 games over the previous season in 2019-20, tied for the sixth-best improvement in Division I.
Series Notes: Valpo has dropped all eight matchups in the all-time series with Xavier, three of which have come at the ARC. The Musketeers have won by double figures in seven of the eight prior meetings. However, only two of the games in the series have been played since 1997 - the most recent matchup came in Cincinnati in November 2007, a 64-53 victory for Xavier.
@ValpoWBB...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo has been picked to finish in seventh place in the MVC preseason poll, totaling 176 points.
- Valpo is in its fourth season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in 2020-21.
- The Valley was ranked eighth nationally in conference RPI in 2019-20.
...looking back at last year
- Valpo finished the 2019-20 campaign with a 17-12 overall record, a 10.5-game improvement over the previous year ‑ good for sixth-best nationally.
- Valpo jumped 172 spots in the RPI from the previous year, the largest leap for any D-I team in the nation.
- Valpo’s 17 wins marked the most by a Valpo team since 2006-07.
- The Brown and Gold finished in sixth place in the MVC standings with a 9-9 record - the program’s best finish since joining The Valley.
- The .500 record in conference play was the program’s first since 2008-09.
- Valpo closed the regular season strong, going 6-3 in the second half of MVC play.
- Grace Hales earned Honorable Mention All-Conference accolades, while Carie Weinman was named to the MVC All-Defensive Team.
- As a team, Valpo set the program’s single-season record for free throw percentage (.792), while Hales broke the program’s individual single-season record in the category (.890).
...versus Western Michigan
- Valpo scored 11 straight points — five of which came courtesy of Weinman — following WMU’s first point to take an 11-1 lead at the first media timeout. The Brown and Gold held the Broncos without a field goal for the first 6:29 of the game.
- WMU closed to within six twice late in the first quarter, but in the final 63 seconds, Carie Weinman got a steal and fast-break layup, followed by a 3-pointer on Valpo’s next possession to push the advantage to 18-7 at the end of 10 minutes.
- Weinman’s hot hand continued into the second quarter, as she connected on two 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the period to push the lead to 24-7 and force a timeout by WMU. At that point, Weinman already had 16 points, just 12 minutes into the contest.
- Caitlin Morrison scored five points of her own following the timeout as the lead broke into the 20s, and when Leah Earnest got a put-back basket with 6:09 left in the first half, Valpo had scored 18 straight over a span of seven minutes and enjoyed a 31-7 lead.
- WMU had a scoring drought of 7:32 spanning the two quarters and went 9:23 between field goals.
- The Broncos did score seven straight points late in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 19 points, but a layup on the break following a steal for Shay Frederick and a last-second layup by Morrison gave Valpo a 38-15 lead at intermission.
- Western Michigan would get no closer than the halftime deficit the rest of the way, while Valpo’s lead reached an apex of 32 points at 63-31 late in the third quarter on a triple by Frederick.
- Weinman was spectacular, going 9-of-12 from the field, including a perfect 5-of-5 mark from the 3-point line, to finish with a game-high 24 points. Her previous high in the Brown and Gold came with a 21-point effort at Loyola last year.
- Weinman’s nine made field goals also set a new personal best at Valpo. She also racked up four steals on the defensive end to lead all players — the fourth time already this season she has picked up four steals in a game.
- Meanwhile, Morrison surpassed her career best as well. The senior poured in 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field. Morrison also matched her career high by pulling down 10 rebounds to finish with the first double-double of her career.
- Valpo outrebounded WMU, 41-34 — the first time this season Valpo has outrebounded its opponent.
- Valpo finished the game shooting 47.4% from the field and was 11-of-33 from the 3-point line, setting a season high for 3-pointers made. Meanwhile, it held WMU to just 25.5% shooting overall and a 4-of-19 mark from deep.
- The Brown and Gold racked up 12 steals as a team, the second time this season they’ve reached double figures in the category. In total, Valpo scored 27 points off 19 WMU turnovers.
- Valpo won its home opener and extended its streak of home nonconference victories to five with Saturday’s win.
...at Miami (Ohio)
- The two teams traded baskets early on, with Valpo earning an 8-6 advantage with 5:33 to play in the first quarter on the second early bucket from Ella Ellenson.
- Miami went on a 12-3 run from that point to end the quarter, going ahead 18-11 at the end of 10 minutes.
- The RedHawks’ run continued in the second period, as they outscored Valpo 12-2 over the first seven minutes of the quarter to extend their edge to 17 points.
- Valpo scored five straight to cut the deficit to 12, but Miami scored the final five points of the half to take a 35-18 lead into the locker room.
- After Miami scored the first two baskets of the second half, Valpo went on a 10-2 run - including five points and an assist from Carie Weinman - to close to within 41-28 with 6:52 to play in the period. But the RedHawks hit a 3-pointer on their next possession, and Valpo was unable to get any closer the rest of the way.
- Weinman led Valpo on Tuesday with 16 points. The junior also came up with four steals for the third time this year and is averaging 3.5 steals/game through four contests.
- Shay Frederick joined Weinman in double figures, finishing with 13 points to go with four assists.
- Cara VanKempen made the first start of her Valpo career.
- Valpo shot just 31.6% from the field Tuesday and was 5-of-27 from the 3-point line, while Miami hit at a 41.7% clip and was 7-of-19 from deep.
- The RedHawks enjoyed a 50-26 advantage on the glass. Valpo did force 21 Miami turnovers and held a 22-10 advantage in points off turnovers.
- Valpo played Tuesday without leading scorer Grace White.
...looking ahead
- The nonconference schedule is slated to come to a close next Sunday, Dec. 20 with a trip to Wisconsin.
- Following a break for Christmas, the MVC slate gets underway with back-to-back games at Illinois State Jan. 1-2.
...at the ARC
- Saturday marks Valpo’s second home game of the season, and the last of just two nonconference home games.
- This marks the fewest nonconference home games since the 1994-95 team also played just two out-of-conference games at the ARC.
- The win over Western Michigan in the home opener extended Valpo’s nonconference home win streak to five games.
- Valpo was a perfect 4-0 in nonconference home games last season and finished the year with an 8-5 overall home record - the program’s best mark at the ARC since 2012-13.
@XavierWBB
- Xavier enters Wednesday’s game with a 3-0 record. The game at the ARC closes a stretch of three games in four days for the Musketeers, who beat Wofford on Sunday and Indiana State on Monday.
- The Musketeers were picked to finish ninth in the Big East preseason poll.
- Xavier went 3-27 overall last season and finished Big East play 2-16, but returns 96.2% of its scoring from that team, including senior A’riana Gray, who averaged a team-high 15.8 points/game a year ago.
Good...Afternoon?
- Wednesday’s game is a rare afternoon game on a weekday for Valpo.
- It is the first weekday home game with an afternoon tip time since Valpo hosted IU Northwest at noon on New Year’s Eve 2018.
- However, the earlier tip time isn’t an anamoly this year on the whole. The latest any of Valpo’s first nine games will tip is 5:30 p.m. local time, and seven of the first nine games tip at either 1 or 2 p.m. local time.
A B1G Victory...and Another
- Last Sunday’s win was the second win in program history over Purdue, and the first since dropping the nationally-ranked Boilermakers at the ARC on Dec. 10, 2008.
- The win at Illinois marked Valpo’s first-ever win over the Illini, as the Brown and Gold were previously 0-4 in the series - all four losses coming by at least 19 points.
- Valpo defeated multiple Big Ten teams in the same season for the first time in program history.
- The victory at Illinois was Valpo’s first over a Big Ten team — or any Power Five program, for that matter — since taking down Indiana 64-52 at the ARC to open the 2012-13 campaign.
- After entering last week with just one road win all-time against Big Ten opponents, Valpo now has three such victories.
- As of the end of play Sunday, B1G teams owned a 29-3 record in home nonconference games this year - Valpo is responsible for two of the three losses.
...and Then a Big Win
- Saturday saw Valpo roll to an easy win over Western Michigan, as the Brown and Gold led by double figures for the final 31 minutes en route to the 24-point win.
- The 24-point margin of victory was Valpo’s largest over a MAC school since defeating WMU 88-54 way back in December 1996.
- Dating back to last year, Valpo has won by 20+ points in three of its last four nonconference home games.
Taking Down Power Five Teams
- This year’s squad becomes the third team in program history to defeat two teams from Power Five conferences in the same season.
- The 2001-02 team beat Wake Forest and Michigan, while the 2008-09 squad defeated Florida State in addition to Purdue.
- This year’s team is the first to earn two true road wins over Power Five programs, however.
- In all, the wins over Illinois and Purdue were Valpo’s ninth and 10th victories over Power Five programs in team history - see page five of the notes for a table of all 10 wins.
Weinman’s Strong Week
- Junior Carie Weinman enjoyed a strong pair of games last week, leading Valpo in scoring in both outings.
- Weinman opened the week with a 16-point performance at Miami, and followed with a career-high 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting in just 24 minutes in Valpo’s rout of Western Michigan.
- Weinman connected on all five of her 3-point attempts in the win over WMU, the first Valpo player since Hannah Schaub in March 2016 against Detroit to hit at least five triples without a miss.
- Weinman scored 16 of her points against the Broncos in the first 12 minutes of the game, helping Valpo jump out to a 17-point lead in that stretch.
- An MVC All-Defensive Team selection and the conference leader in steals last year, Weinman also tallied four steals in both games last week and has recorded four steals in four of the season’s first five games. She currently ranks sixth nationally with 18 total steals.
White Leads the Way
- It was senior Grace White leading the way in both the wins over the Big Ten programs, joining some elite company in the history of Valpo women’s basketball.
- White posted a team-best 17 points to go with nine rebounds and five assists in the Illinois win, and followed at Purdue by matching her career high with 20 points, making a career-high nine baskets (9-14) and leading Valpo with eight rebounds.
- For her performances against Illinois and Purdue, White was named MVC Player of the Week and College Sports Madness National High-Major Player of the Week.
- White led Valpo in scoring in both games, becoming just the second player in program history to lead the team in scoring in multiple Power Five wins - Agnieszka Kulaga led Valpo with 22 points in the 2008 win over Florida State and 17 points in the 2008 Purdue win.
- White also led Valpo in rebounding in both games, making her one of two players in program history to lead the team on the glass in multiple Power Five wins - Tamra Braun had 10 boards apiece in the 2005 win over Northwestern and the 2004 win at Washington State.
Close Games Go Our Way
- Edging out the Illini by three points and beating the Boilermakers by five points continues a trend under Mary Evans for Valpo to excel in tight games.
- Since Evans’ arrival, Valpo is 11-5 in games decided by five or fewer points.
- The Brown and Gold were 4-2 last year and 5-3 in 2018-19 in close games.
Life on the Road
- Valpo just concluded a four-game stretch of road contests to open the 2020-21 campaign.
- This marks the second straight season that Valpo has played four straight away from home to open the year, as last year’s squad had one neutral-site game followed by three true road games.
- It matches Valpo’s longest stretch of games away from home to open a season since beginning the 2007-08 season with six consecutive games away from the ARC.
- The game against WMU marks the program’s latest home opener since 1994-95, when the Brown and Gold hosted Aurora on Dec. 20.
Big Ten Challenges
- Of Valpo’s seven scheduled nonconference games, three are against Big Ten programs - Illinois, Purdue and Wisconsin.
- Valpo has played three nonconference games versus Big Ten teams in Mary Evans’ first two full seasons - Illinois in 2018-19; Ohio State and Northwestern in 2019-20.
- Should all three games be played as scheduled, it would be the first time in program history Valpo has faced three Big Ten opponents in a single season.
- The games at Illinois and Purdue came back to back, the first consecutive games against Big Ten foes for Valpo since opening the 2006-07 season at Northwestern and Indiana.
