Valparaiso (1-13, 0-5 MVC)
Game #15 - January 19, 2024 - 6 p.m.
Illinois State (10-5, 3-2 MVC)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valpo women’s basketball team opens its second straight weekend of home MVC action on Friday evening as the Beacons welcome Illinois State to the ARC. Valpo’s first three home games of the Valley slate have matched the team against the top three teams in the MVC preseason poll.
Previously: Freshman Saniya Jackson continued her strong rookie campaign as she tied for game-high honors with a season-best 16 points on Sunday as the Beacons fell to MVC preseason favorite UNI at the ARC, 76-52.
Following Valpo Basketball: Streaming Video: ESPN+
Links for live coverage: Available via ValpoAthletics.com
Head Coach Mary Evans: Mary Evans is in her sixth year at the helm of the program in 2023-24 and owns a record of 56-104. Evans has made an impact on the program in her first five years, raising the team’s level of play to be competitive in a strong Missouri Valley Conference. The 2022-23 season saw Evans lead Valpo to the first win in program history over perennial MVC power Missouri State. The Beacons also won three consecutive road games in Valley play, the first time the program accomplished that feat against three different opponents since 2007.
Series Notes: Illinois State leads the all-time series over Valpo, 11-4, including wins in each of the last four matchups. Last season, the Redbirds earned a 78-46 win at the ARC and a 78-49 victory in Normal.
@ValpoWBB...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo was picked to finish in 10th place in the MVC preseason poll, totaling 162 points, coming in ahead of Evansville and Bradley.
- Valpo is in its seventh season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- The Valley was ranked 13th in conference NET last season. The MVC ranked 10th in conference NET in 2021-22, seventh in conference NET in 2020-21 and was eighth in conference RPI in 2019-20.
...looking back at last year
- Valpo finished last season with a 7-23 overall record and finished at 5-15 in MVC play, good for 11th in the Valley standings.
- The Beacons earned their first win in program history over perennial MVC power Missouri State.
- Valpo also won three consecutive road games in Valley play, the first time the program accomplished that feat against three different opponents since 2007.
- Ali Saunders was named to the MVC All-Freshman Team.
...versus UNI
- Valpo scored the game’s first five points before UNI went on a 17-3 run to take the lead for good.
- The Panthers led 20-13 at the end of the first quarter.
- Valpo was still within seven points halfway through the second quarter, until UNI reeled off 11 points in a row en route to a 38-20 halftime lead.
- The Panthers led by as many as 30 points in the third quarter and enjoyed a 63-34 lead with 10 minutes to play.
- The Beacons outscored UNI in the fourth quarter, 18-14.
- Saniya Jackson surpassed her previous season best by one point, hitting 6-of-8 from the field — including a season-high three triples — for 16 points to share game-high scoring honors with MVC Preseason Player of the Year Grace Boffeli.
- Jackson has scored in double figures in seven of Valpo’s last 11 games.
- Jackson also paced the Beacons on the defensive end with three steals, her fourth effort of at least three steals this season.
- As a team, Valpo racked up 11 steals — the seventh time this year the Beacons have reached double figures in that department.
- Valpo forced UNI to commit a season-high 21 turnovers — a strong feat given the Panthers played one of the nation’s toughest nonconference schedules. The Beacons held a 22-21 edge in points off turnovers.
- Valpo shot just 31.6% from the field, as compared to the Panthers’ 52.8% clip.
...versus Drake
- Drake opened the game on an 8-0 run, but Valpo used five first-quarter 3-pointers to stay within striking distance.
- Triples in the final minute of the period by Ella Van Weelden and Leah Earnest gave Valpo a brief lead before the Bulldogs got a layup in the waning seconds to lead 18-17 at the end of the first.
- Drake pushed its lead to nine points late in the second quarter before Earnest beat the shot clock with a turnaround jumper on Valpo’s final possession of the period to bring the Beacons within 31-24 at halftime.
- A basket by Layla Gold 74 seconds into the second half made it a five-point game, and after Drake extended out to an 11-point edge, Earnest and Ava Interrante converted driving layups on consecutive possessions to make it 37-30 with 5:45 to play in the third period.
- Drake came up with a 19-3 run over the next four-plus minutes to pull away.
- The Beacons hit 11 3-pointers to match their season high, previously accomplished against Chicago State. Eight different players combined for the 11 triples.
- Earnest scored a team-best 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. It is the sixth time this season the senior has led Valpo in scoring, while she also paced the Beacons in rebounds for the ninth time.
- Interrante knocked down a pair of triples on her way to a season-best 10 points. She also came up with a team-high three steals to match her season high.
- Valpo limited Drake, which entered the game averaging 81.9 points/game to just 31 points in the first half. The Bulldogs were just 11-of-24 from the floor, 2-of-10 from the 3-point line, 7-of-8 from the foul line and committed 13 turnovers over the first 20 minutes.
- Drake scored 52 points in the second half, however, hitting 16-of-28 from the field, 7-of-14 from the 3-point line and 13-of-14 from the foul line. The Bulldogs also turned the ball over just six times in the second half.
...looking ahead
- Valpo closes out its four-game homestand on Sunday afternoon when it takes on Bradley.
- Next weekend brings the in-state road swing, as the Beacons head to Indiana State and Evansville.
...at the ARC
- Valpo will play 12 regular season home games during the 2023-24 campaign. Friday is the Beacons’ fifth home game of the season.
- The Beacons are 1-3 at home so far this year and posted a 3-12 record at home last season.
@RedbirdWBB
- Illinois State enters Friday’s game with a 10-5 overall record on the year.
- The Redbirds are 3-2 in MVC play and are coming off home wins over Southern Illinois and Missouri State last week.
- Reigning MVC Player of the Week DeAnna Wilson leads the Redbirds, averaging 15.3 points/game on .503 shooting and 6.9 rebounds/game.
- Maya Wong also scores in double figures, posting 12.3 points/game as she’s hitting at a .550 clip from 3-point range this season.
Another Leap Forward
- Senior Leah Earnest took a jump forward in her production last season, and has taken another leap this year.
- Earnest enters Friday’s game ranked eighth in the conference in scoring (13.2 points/game).
- She is also averaging team-best marks of 6.2 rebounds/game and 2.6 assists/game as well.
- Earnest is on pace to become the first Valpo player since Debbie Bolen in 1991-92 to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists.
- Earnest has been consistent, scoring in double figures in 12 of 14 games to date.
- Earnest entered this season with a career high of 20 in the scoring column, but has outdone that three times this year, including a career-best 26 points at UAB.
- With her seventh rebound at Missouri State, Earnest hit the 500-rebound mark for her career, becoming the 19th player in program history with 500 career boards. She enters Friday’s game ranked 18th in program history with 514 career rebounds.
Productive Rookie
- Freshman Saniya Jackson scored just 11 points combined over her first three collegiate games, but has been a steady hand on the offensive end since then.
- Jackson’s first double-figure scoring effort came at UAB, when she scored 13 points.
- Jackson has scored in double figures in seven of Valpo’s last 11 games, including a season-best 16 last time as the Beacons took on UNI.
- Jackson is shooting at a 50% clip from the field this season, including a 66.0% mark from inside the arc.
- Jackson has racked up 28 steals this year - second-most on the team - while committing just 19 turnovers. Per HerHoopStats.com, as of Wednesday, she is one of just 20 D-I players with 25+ steals and 20 or fewer turnovers.
Youth in the Lineup
- The Beacons’ starting lineup has been 60% comprised of freshmen the last three times out.
- Layla Gold made her first collegiate start at Southern Illinois, joining Saniya Jackson and Nevaeh Jackson in the starting five.
- It was the first time Valpo has started three freshmen since March 11, 2016, when Hannah Schaub, Meredith Hamlet and Amber Lindfors were in the starting lineup against Northern Kentucky.
- Gold’s insertion into the lineup was necessitated after Olivia Brown suffered an injury in the fourth quarter of the previous game at Missouri State which kept her out against the Salukis. It was the first game Brown has missed in her three years at Valpo, snapping a streak of 71 consecutive games played.
Thievery Abounds
- Valpo has gotten back to its stealing ways on the defensive end this season.
- The Beacons rank 37th nationally with 10.6 steals/game, and per HerHoopStats.com, their steal rate of 12.5% is good for 31st nationally.
- Valpo has been in double figures in steals in seven games this season, highlighted by an 18-steal effort against Western Illinois Nov. 18.
- The 18 steals was the program’s best single-game mark since tallying 21 steals at Evansville on Jan. 12, 2020, and is tied for the second-highest output in Evans’ tenure as head coach.
- Freshman Raeven Raye-Redmond currently ranks fourth in the Valley with 2.4 steals/game despite playing just 16.0 minutes/game, while fellow rookie Saniya Jackson is tied for sixth in the MVC with 2.0 steals/game.
- Raye-Redmond is one of just five players nationally with a steal rate of at least 7% who play at least 10 minutes/game.
- Both Jackson and Raye-Redmond have had an eight-steal game this season - Jackson did so Nov. 25 at UAB and Raye-Redmond did so in her collegiate debut in the aforementioned Western Illinois game.
- Jackson and Raye-Redmond are two of just 27 D-I players nationally to record eight or more steals in a single game so far this season.
- The duo are now tied for second on Valpo’s single-game steals chart, just one off the program single-game record.
- Prior to this year, the last Valpo player to tally eight steals in a game was Jeanette Gray against Houston in the 2002 WNIT.
- Raye-Redmond was the first MVC player to record eight steals in a game since UNI’s Ellie Herzberg did so against Indiana State on Feb. 19, 2017.
Welcome Time at Home
- After a road-heavy first couple months of the season, the Beacons are enjoying some much-needed time sleeping in their own beds.
- Valpo played 10 of its first 12 games away from home, but is now in the midst of a stretch of four consecutive home games at the ARC.
- Discarding the COVID-affected 2020-21 campaign, it is the first time the program has played four consecutive home games since back-to-back Valley home weekends against Bradley, Illinois State, Drake and UNI in February 2019.
