The Valpo women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome a cold shooting night from the floor as it reached the halfway mark of the MVC schedule Friday night at Loyola, falling to the host Ramblers by a 62-48 final.
How It Happened
- Behind seven early points from Shay Frederick (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville), Valpo jumped out to a 12-7 lead at the 4:21 mark of the first quarter.
- The Beacons held Loyola without a field goal for a stretch of over seven minutes in the opening period, but the Ramblers used a 7-of-7 effort from the foul line in the first quarter to stay within striking distance.
- Frederick capped an 11-point first quarter with a driving layup with 36 seconds to play in the period before the Ramblers tied the game at 16-16 with a putback in the waning seconds of the quarter.
- Loyola scored the first six points of the second quarter to take the lead for good, and hit back-to-back 3-pointers around the halfway mark of the period to push its lead into double figures.
- The Ramblers extended their lead to 33-21 with 3:12 to play in the first half, but Valpo came back with the final five points of the half — four of which came from Leah Earnest (Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH) — to move to within 33-26 at intermission.
- Earnest converted a traditional 3-point play on the opening possession of the second half to make it a 33-29 game, but that proved to be Valpo’s lone field goal of the third quarter.
- Despite that, the Beacons found ways to get to the foul line and were still down just 39-33 with 3:30 to play in the quarter after a pair of free throws from Grace White (Redby, Minn./Red Lake [Denver]). But Loyola went on a 9-1 run over the final three minutes of the quarter to push its lead to 48-34 entering the fourth.
- Valpo got no closer than 11 points over the final 10 minutes.
Inside the Game
- Valpo’s 48 points marked its lowest output in MVC play this season. The Beacons shot just 30.6% from the field (15-for-49), also their worst mark in Valley action this year.
- Valpo was just 4-for-23 from the 3-point line on Friday. The Beacons’ 17.4% clip from deep matched a season worst in that department.
- Valpo limited Loyola to 38.9% shooting, the second straight opponent it has held under 40% from the field. The Ramblers hit just 5-for-21 from deep as well.
- Frederick scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the first quarter and pulled down five rebounds as well. She moved past Grace Hales into 12th place in program history on the career scoring chart on Friday, finishing the night with 1,139 career points.
- Frederick has scored in double figures in a single quarter 16 times in her Valpo career.
- White tallied 12 points to join Frederick in double figures on the evening and picked up a team-best three steals.
- Earnest grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
Next Up
Valpo (6-14, 4-5 MVC) begins the second half of Valley play on the road next Friday evening with a 6 p.m. tip at Drake.
