Valparaiso (3-15, 2-7 MVC)
Game #19 - February 4, 2024 - 1 p.m.
at UIC (12-8, 5-4 MVC)
Credit Union 1 Arena (8,000) - Chicago, Ill.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valpo women’s basketball team closes out the first half of the Missouri Valley Conference slate on Sunday afternoon, heading up to the Windy City to meet UIC for the first time this season.
Previously: Playing the back half of its Hoosier State road swing Sunday at Evansville, the Valpo women’s basketball team closed the first half on a 13-2 run to take a seven-point lead into the locker room and the Beacons followed with a 14-2 run late in the third quarter to take down the Purple Aces by a 70-59 final. Leah Earnest scored a game-high 19 points, while Nevaeh Jackson delivered 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Following Valpo Basketball: Streaming Video: ESPN+
Radio: WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso)
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 58-106. 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: The most common opponent in program history, UIC holds a 29-24 advantage in the all-time series over Valpo. Previously conference mates in the North Star Conference, the Mid-Continent Conference and the Horizon League, last season was the first year the two programs shared conference affiliation in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Flames claimed narrow victories in both regular season meetings (51-50 in Chicago, 55-53 in Valpo) before pulling away for a 72-47 win in the opening round of Hoops in the Heartland.
@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.
...at Evansville
- Valpo led by six with less than three minutes remaining in the opening period before Evansville scored the final six points of the period to tie it at 13-13.
- The Purple Aces took a four-point lead at 25-21 just past the halfway mark of the second quarter, but that set the stage for a 13-2 Valpo run to end the half as the Beacons took a 34-27 halftime lead.
- Valpo pulled out to a 12-point lead less than three minutes into the second half. Evansville came back with an 11-2 run over the next two-plus minutes to cut the Beacons’ edge to 43-40.
- Valpo responded with a 14-2 run to close the third quarter which put the game out of reach, as the Beacons led 57-43 with 10 minutes to play.
- Valpo’s defense limited Evansville to 32.2% shooting, the second-lowest shooting percentage by a Valpo opponent this season.
- The Beacons matched the Purple Aces in the rebounding department, as both squads pulled down 41 boards — the second time this season Valpo has tied or outrebounded its opponent.
- Leah Earnest scored in double figures for the 16th time this year, pouring in a game-high 19 points, and also tied for team-high honors with five rebounds.
- Nevaeh Jackson enjoyed a very efficient shooting performance, hitting 6-of-8 from the field — including 2-of-4 from 3-point range — and both her free throw attempts for 16 points while also sharing team-high honors with five rebounds.
- Olivia Brown connected for 11 points — all of which came in the second half — and set a season best with five rebounds.
- The win was Valpo’s fourth straight at Evansville.
...at Indiana State
- Valpo led for the majority of the first quarter, but ISU closed the period with six straight points - including a halfcourt shot at the buzzer - to lead 18-16 at the end of the quarter.
- A 3-pointer from Saniya Jackson and a driving layup from Leah Earnest accounted for a quick 5-0 run late in the second quarter which sent Valpo into the locker room with a 32-28 halftime lead.
- Out of the locker room, Valpo was unable to hit a field goal in the third quarter and didn’t crack the scoreboard until a pair of free throws by senior Ava Interrante with 3:10 to play in the period. At that point, the Sycamores had reeled off 15 points in a row to take a double-digit lead.
- ISU led 47-36 at the end of the third quarter and scored on each of its first five possessions of the fourth quarter to keep the Beacons from making a run.
- Leah Earnest finished with 18 points to lead all players on 8-of-13 shooting, while also pulling down a team-high six rebounds.
- Jackson joined Earnest in double digits in the scoring column, finishing with 10 points — her eighth double-digit effort of the season.
- After shooting 46.2% (12-of-26) in the first half to head into the locker room with the lead, the Beacons were limited to 20% (4-of-20) shooting in the second half.
- Valpo also hit just five 3-pointers on the evening, matching its lowest output to date in Valley play.
- There was only a three-turnover differential in that department (Indiana State 16, Valpo 19), but the Sycamores were able to turn the Beacons’ turnovers into 26 points, while Valpo scored just 14 points off ISU’s miscues.
...looking ahead
- The second half of the Valley slate begins next weekend, as Indiana State and Evansville visit the ARC.
- The following weekend brings the central Illinois road swing, with visits to Bradley and Illinois State.
...on the road
- Valpo will play 17 games away from home in the 2023-24 regular season, 16 of which will be true road games.
- The Beacons are 1-11 away from home so far this year and posted a 4-10 record in true road games last season.
@UIC_WBB
- UIC enters Sunday’s game at 12-8 overall and with a 5-4 record in Valley play.
- The Flames had won four in a row prior to a 65-43 setback against UNI on Wednesday.
- Four UIC players average in double figures, led by a team-best 12.7 points/game off the bench from Makiyah Williams. Keimari Rimmer adds 10.3 points/game and leads the Flames on the glass with 6.3 boards/game.
Halftime Leads
- Valpo has held halftime leads in each of the last four games: 37-35 versus Illinois State, 47-25 versus Bradley, 32-28 at Indiana State and 34-27 last time out at Evansville.
- The third quarter has proved vital in all four of those games. Valpo was able to extend its lead against Bradley with a 19-12 edge in the third quarter, while last time out at Evansville, the Beacons outscored the Purple Aces 23-16 in the third period.
- On the other hand, the Beacons saw the lead slip away in the third quarter of the two losses in that stretch, getting outscored in the third period 21-12 against Illinois State and 19-4 against Indiana State.
- Within Valley play, Valpo owns a 144-131 total edge over its opponents in the second quarter, but the Beacons’ opponents have outscored them 193-134 in the third quarter.
Hitting the Glass
- Valpo battled to a draw in the rebounding department with Evansville in Sunday’s win, as both teams grabbed 41 boards.
- Valpo’s 41 rebounds was the program’s highest single-game total in a regulation game since a 41-rebound effort in the December 2020 win over Western Michigan.
- The Beacons claimed 35 of those boards on the defensive glass, the program’s most defensive rebounds in a game in the tenure of head coach Mary Evans.
- Sunday’s rebounding performance was a total team effort, as no Beacon had more than five rebounds. All 10 players who played at least seven minutes secured multiple rebounds.
Happy Returns
- Over the last couple weeks, Valpo has been bolstered by returns to action from a pair of key players.
- In the Jan. 21 win over Bradley, fifth-year guard Olivia Brown returned to the court after missing four games with an ankle injury.
- Then, last time out at Evansville, fifth-year point guard Jill Harris saw nine minutes of action off the bench - her first playing time since Nov. 25, as she missed 13 games with a concussion.
A Big Win
- There was no drama in Valpo’s first Valley win of the year, as the Beacons led Bradley by as many as 34 points in the second half on their way to the 79-55 victory.
- Valpo’s 24-point margin of victory was its largest since beating Western Michigan 75-51 in December 2020.
- It was the program’s largest margin of victory in MVC play since a 93-49 win over Evansville in January 2019.
- The Beacons held Bradley to 55 points, a season low for their opponents. The Braves shot just 29.1% from the floor, the lowest mark by a Valpo opponent since Illinois State shot just 28.8% in January 2021.
That Second Quarter Tho
- The offensive numbers from the second quarter in the Bradley win are the fun ones.
- Valpo scored 33 points in the period, the program’s second-highest output in a quarter since the change to quarters in 2014-15 — only bested by a 35-point third quarter in the aforementioned Evansville game.
- The Beacons were 9-of-14 from the field in the second quarter, including a 7-of-10 mark from behind the 3-point line, and hit 8-of-9 from the foul line. Their 33 points came on just 19 possessions, an average of 1.74 points per possession.
Another Leap Forward
- Senior Leah Earnest took a jump forward in her production last season, and has taken another leap this year.
- Earnest enters Sunday’s game ranked seventh in the conference in scoring (14.8).
- She is just outside the Valley’s top-10 in rebounding with a team-best 6.8 rebounds/game and is also averaging a team-best 2.7 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 16 of 18 games to date.
- Earnest entered this season with a career high of 20 in the scoring column, but has hit that mark or better five times this year, including a career-best 26 points at UAB.
- Earnest surpassed the 500-rebound mark for her career in the MVC opener at Missouri State, becoming the 19th player in program history with 500 career boards. She enters Sunday’s game ranked 16th in program history with 549 career rebounds.
- Earnest posted 24 points, 14 rebounds and six assists in Valpo’s win over Bradley - in single-game records dating back to the late 1980’s, no Valpo player has ever hit all three of those marks in the same game.
- Earnest is one of just three Division I players this season to reach all three of those marks in the same game — Iowa’s Caitlin Clark did so against Loyola, while Abilene Christian’s Bella Earle did so against California Baptist. She is also one of just two MVC players to post a stat line like that in the last 13 seasons.
Youth in the Lineup
- The Beacons’ starting lineup has been 60% comprised of freshmen the last seven 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 had 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 average 10.0 steals/game and have been in double figures in steals in eight 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 sixth in the Valley with 2.0 steals/game, while fellow rookie Saniya Jackson is ninth in the MVC with 1.9 steals/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 30 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.
