Valparaiso (7-14, 5-5 MVC)
Game #22 - February 6, 2022 - 2 p.m.
at UNI (14-6, 7-2 MVC)
McLeod Center (6,650) - Cedar Falls, Iowa
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: Fresh off a road victory at Drake on Friday evening, the Valpo women’s basketball team goes for a weekend sweep in Iowa on Sunday afternoon as the Beacons head to Cedar Falls for a 2 p.m. matinee against UNI.
Previously: Valpo finished off a season sweep of Drake and earned the first win in program history on the road over the Bulldogs, going into the Knapp Center and handing Drake a 72-65 defeat on Friday evening. Grace White led the way for the Beacons, who overcame a double-figure deficit to earn a win for the third time during conference play, with 20 points, 11 rebounds and six steals.
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Head Coach Mary Evans: Mary Evans is in her fourth year at the helm of the program in 2021-22 and owns a record of 44-63. Evans has made an immediate impact on the program in her first three years, raising the team’s level of play to be competitive in a strong Missouri Valley Conference. Evans’ preferred style of play has been a big part of the program’s turnaround, as Valpo has led the MVC in 3-pointers made per game and in steals per game in each of the last two seasons.
Series Notes: UNI holds an 8-5 advantage in the all-time series over Valpo, most of which has been contested since Valpo joined the MVC. But the Beacons have won three of the last four matchups between the two programs, albeit all of those have been played at the ARC. January saw Valpo claim a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Panthers, overcoming a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter and taking its first lead of the game with 1:15 to play in a 60-58 win. Olivia Brown led all players with 18 points in the victory, while Shay Frederick notched 13 points and a team-best five assists.
@ValpoWBB...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo has been picked to finish in sixth place in the MVC preseason poll, totaling 208 points - just one point shy of fifth place.
- Valpo is in its fifth season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- The Valley was ranked seventh nationally in conference NET in 2020-21 and was eighth nationally in conference RPI in 2019-20.
...looking back at last year
- Valpo posted a 12-13 overall record during the 2020-21 season and went 7-9 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
- Valpo finished the regular season in seventh place in the MVC standings.
- Included among Valpo’s 12 victories were wins at Illinois and at Purdue, the program’s first Power Five wins since 2012-13.
- Valpo closed the season with a NET of 122 - the program’s best final NET/RPI ranking since the 2003-04 campaign.
- Shay Frederick was a First Team All-MVC honoree as she led the Valley in assists and ranked sixth in scoring.
- Carie Weinman earned Honorable Mention All-MVC notice and repeated on the All-Defensive Team as she led the Valley in steals for a second straight season.
...at Drake
- Drake led for most of the first half and pushed its lead to as many as 10 before holding a 39-32 lead at intermission.
- The Beacons went on a 12-3 run over the first four minutes of the second half to take a 44-42 lead, their first lead since the opening minutes of the game.
- The teams vied for control the remainder of the third quarter, as neither squad gained more than a 3-point lead. The Bulldogs led 51-50 with 10 minutes to play.
- Valpo and Drake traded baskets in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, but after Drake connected on a second-chance basket with 8:27 to play in the game, the Beacons held the Bulldogs off the board for over three minutes. In that stretch, Valpo scored nine straight points — five from Carie Weinman and four from Shay Frederick — to push its advantage to eight points approaching the halfway mark of the quarter.
- Valpo led by as many as nine with 4:05 to play before the Bulldogs made a run to close to within 66-65 with 1:33 to play.
- The teams traded stops before Olivia Brown hit Weinman on a back cut for a layup with 24.9 seconds to play to make it a 3-point game.
- Weinman then got it done on the defensive end, coming up with a steal to ensure the Bulldogs would not get a shot to potentially tie the game.
- The win completed Valpo’s season sweep of the Bulldogs after having entered the season 0-13 all-time versus Drake.
- Valpo enjoyed its best game of the season from the foul line, hitting a season-best 21 free throws on 84% shooting (21-of-25).
- The Beacons were a +6 in the turnover department, committing just 13 miscues to Drake’s 19. More importantly, Valpo came up with 14 steals to tie a season high while the Bulldogs tallied just one steal, leading to a 30-14 advantage in points off turnovers for the Beacons.
- Valpo and Drake were tied on the glass, 35-35, and Valpo grabbed a season-high 13 offensive rebounds. The Beacons limited the Bulldogs to just eight second-chance points.
...at Loyola
- Shay Frederick scored 11 of her game-high 17 points in the first quarter as the score was tied 16-16 at the end of one.
- Loyola out-scored Valpo by seven points apiece in both the second and the third quarters to take control.
- 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.
- Grace White tallied 12 points to join Frederick in double figures on the evening and picked up a team-best three steals.
...looking ahead
- Valpo returns home to the ARC next weekend, hosting Bradley on Thursday evening and Illinois State on Saturday afternoon.
...on the road
- Friday marks the 14th of 16 road games for Valpo this season. The Beacons are 3-10 on the road so far this season and 2-4 on the road in MVC play.
- A win on Sunday would give Valpo its third sweep of a road weekend since joining the Valley - Valpo swept a two-game series at Southern Illinois last February, and beat Indiana State and Evansville on the same road trip in January 2020.
- Valpo had finished at or above .500 in each of the last two seasons in true road games, going 6-6 on the road last year and 9-5 in 2019-20.
@UNIwbb
- UNI enters Sunday’s game at 14-6 overall and 7-2 in MVC play following a 69-56 home win over Loyola on Friday.
- The Panthers have won four consecutive games since falling at Drake on January 21.
- Sunday’s game is the third in a stretch of four home games in seven days for UNI.
- Karli Rucker leads the Panthers, averaging a team-high 13.0 points and 3.4 assists per game, while Kam Finley adds 11.5 points/game.
Accomplishing Firsts
- Valpo has recorded a number of firsts in program history over the first 10 games of conference play.
- The Beacons have registered their first road win over two MVC teams this season, winning for the first time both at Drake and at Bradley.
- Both Drake and Bradley were previously 6-0 at home versus Valpo before this season.
- The win at the Knapp Center completed Valpo’s first season sweep of Drake, the program’s first two wins ever against the Bulldogs.
- Prior to the Beacons’ win at the ARC over Drake earlier this season, the Bulldogs held a 13-0 advantage in the all-time series.
- That leaves Missouri State as the lone program the Beacons have yet to beat since joining the MVC.
- The win over Drake in January also gave Valpo its first sweep of the UNI/Drake weekend in MVC play.
- It is Valpo’s fourth sweep of a weekend set since joining the Valley. Valpo previously swept both the home and road Indiana State/Evansville weekends in 2019-20, and took down Southern Illinois twice on back-to-back days last season.
What a Rally
- Three of Valpo’s five MVC victories have seen the Beacons overcome double-digit deficits at some point during the game to earn the win.
- Valpo has now rallied from down 10 or more to win 13 times in head coach Mary Evans’ four-year tenure at the helm of the program.
- Most recently, last time out at Drake, the Beacons trailed by 10 in the first half before coming back for the victory.
- Valpo’s home win over UNI featured a comeback from down 13 in the fourth quarter, tying the program’s largest comeback in the final period since the move to quarters — Valpo previously rallied from a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter in a 66-64 win over Loyola on Jan. 24, 2020.
- Against Evansville, the Beacons trailed by as many as 14 points before picking up the win - it was Valpo’s largest comeback overall since the aforementioned Loyola game, which featured a 14-point deficit at one point.
Big Quarters
- Four Beacons have enjoyed big scoring quarters over the last three games.
- In Valpo’s win over Evansville, Olivia Brown tripled the Purple Aces’ second-quarter scoring output, scoring 12 points to help Valpo turn a nine-point deficit at the end of the first quarter into a nine-point halftime lead.
- Then, in the third quarter, Grace White scored all 13 of her points consecutively in a three-minute stretch as part of a 15-0 Valpo run.
- The 13-point stanza was White’s highest-scoring quarter in the Valpo uniform and is the seventh time she has scored 10+ in a quarter at Valpo.
- The 13-point personal run is the largest by a Valpo player in at least five years - Carie Weinman (Western Michigan, Dec. 2020) and Meredith Hamlet (Loyola, February 2018) both had personal 11-0 runs.
- It is the first time since Jan. 31 of last season that Valpo has had multiple players with 10+ point quarters in the same game.
- At Loyola, Shay Frederick dropped 11 points in the first quarter - the 16th time in her Valpo career she has scored 10+ points in a single period.
- Last time out at Drake, Weinman poured in 12 fourth-quarter points, just two points shy of the Bulldogs’ team output of 14 points.
- It was the seventh time in Weinman’s Valpo career she has scored 10 or more in a quarter.
Milestones Approaching
- With one player - Shay Frederick - having already reached the 1,000-point mark for her collegiate career this season, two other Beacons are approaching the milestone as well.
- Carie Weinman enters Sunday’s game with 995 career points after a 15-point effort in the win over Drake.
- 191 of Weinman’s points came in one season at Denver, with the other 804 coming in her three seasons at Valpo.
- Weinman is averaging 11.7 points/game in her time at Valpo, tied for seventh-best in program history.
- Meanwhile, Grace White comes into the UNI game with 935 career points after tallying 20 in the win at Drake.
- White scored 277 points in her two years at Denver and is at 658 points in her time at Valpo.
Top 100 Wins
- Valpo has made a habit of knocking off top-100 opponents in MVC play over the last few seasons and has done so three times this year.
- The home win over UNI came over a team which entered the night ranked #46 in NET, and the home victory came over a Drake squad which was #65.
- Most recently, the road win at Drake last time out came over a Bulldogs squad which entered the day at #84.
- Valpo now has eight top-100 NET/RPI wins in Valley action over the last three seasons.
- Prior to its Feb. 16, 2020 win at Illinois State - its first top-100 win in conference play since joining the Valley - Valpo had gone nearly seven years without a top-100 victory.
White Does It All
- Senior Grace White has continued to stuff the stat sheet in her final season in the Brown and Gold, and took it to another level last time out at Drake.
- White finished the game with a team-high 20 points, a career-best 11 rebounds and six steals, also matching a career high.
- White needed just the first 20 minutes to record her third double-double at Valpo, entering halftime with 14 points and 10 rebounds - the first Valpo player since November 2016 to post a double-double in the first half.
- White leads the team in rebounding and steals and ranks second in scoring, assists and blocked shots.
- White leads the Valley in steals (2.7/game) and ranks eighth in rebounding (6.1/game).
- She currently ranks among the top-50 nationally in steals/game as well.
Frederick Moves On Up
- One season after leading the Valley in assists, Shay Frederick again tops the chart this season as she’s averaging 4.4 assists/game.
- Frederick is trying to become the first MVC player to lead the conference in assists in consecutive seasons since Caitlin Ingle of Drake did so three straight seasons (2014-15 through 2016-17).
- Frederick has 442 career assists, third-most in program history and just six shy of Katie Boone for second.
- One of 17 players in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone for her career, Frederick ranks 12th all-time at Valpo with 1,153 career points.
- Frederick is one of just two players in program history with at least 1,000 career points and 400 career assists, and just one of three active MVC players above those marks (Brice Calip, MSU and Karli Rucker, UNI).
- Frederick also is just two triples away from cracking Valpo’s top-five in 3-pointers made.
Liv Breaks Out
- Junior Olivia Brown has stood out for the Beacons within MVC play.
- In Valley games, Brown is averaging 11.9 ppg - second on the team - on 48.3% shooting from the field and 43.8% from 3-point range.
- This comes after Brown averaged just 2.5 ppg through non-conference action and hit a total of nine field goals in the first 11 games.
- Overall this year, Brown ranks third in the MVC, connecting at a 40.0% clip from deep.
- Included among her efforts in conference play so far are five double-digit scoring performances, and she has led all players three times - 21 points at Missouri State, 18 points in the win over UNI and 21 points in the win over Evansville.
- Brown was named MVC Newcomer of the Week on Jan. 10 for her performances in the victories over UNI and Drake - Valpo’s first MVC Newcomer of the Week since March 9, 2020.
