Valparaiso (1-1, 0-0 MVC)
Game #3 - Sunday, November 17 - 2 p.m.
at North Dakota (2-1, 0-0 Summit)
Betty Engelstad Sioux Center (3,300) - Grand Forks, N.D.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valpo women’s basketball team looks to make it a perfect swing through The Peace Garden State this weekend on Sunday afternoon as it heads to Grand Forks to take on North Dakota.
Previously: Valpo’s defense shined on Friday night in Fargo, N.D., as it forced 22 North Dakota State turnovers and held the Bison to 0-of-14 shooting from 3-point range in a 66-54 road win. Addison Stoller led Valpo offensively in the victory with 21 points, while Grace Hales finished with 14 points and a career-high tying nine rebounds.
Following Valpo Basketball: TV: Fox Sports North
Streaming Video: Pay stream, via UND website
Streaming Audio/Live Stats – Available via ValpoAthletics.com
Head Coach Mary Evans: Mary Evans (9-25) is in her second season as head coach of the Valpo women’s basketball program in 2019-20. Evans’ impact on the program was immediately clear in her first year, as Valpo shattered its previous program record of 224 made 3-pointers in a single season by knocking down 276 trifectas - a mark which ranks seventh in MVC history. Valpo ranked among the top-25 nationally in both total 3-pointers and 3-pointers per game in Evans’ first season at the helm of the Valpo program.
Series Notes: This is the second meeting in as many years between Valpo and North Dakota, as the two squads met in Valpo last season on Nov. 11, 2018 in their first-ever matchup. The Fighting Hawks came out of that game victorious, 62-56, erasing a four-point halftime deficit with a 10-point third-quarter advantage. Meredith Hamlet led Valpo with 15 points in that game, while Shay Frederick registered 11 points and six rebounds off the bench in her second career game.
@ValpoWBB...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo has been selected to finish in eighth place in the MVC preseason poll, totaling 126 points.
- Valpo is in its third season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in 2019-20.
...looking back at last year
- Valpo posted an 8-24 record last season in head coach Mary Evans’ first year at the helm and went 3-15 in MVC play.
- Last year’s Valpo squad was ravaged by injuries, many times dressing just nine scholarship players.
- Valpo shattered its program record for 3-pointers in a season in 2018-19, knocking down 276 triples to race past the previous record of 224.
- Valpo also moved into seventh place in a single season in MVC history in 3-pointers made.
- Shay Frederick was named to the MVC All-Freshman Team, while Meredith Hamlet was an Honorable Mention MVC Scholar-Athlete.
...at North Dakota State
- NDSU pulled out to a 16-8 lead seven minutes into the game, but Valpo would rally and gain the lead late in the second quarter as part of a 10-0 run which had it up 26-23 at the half.
- The Bison scored six of the first eight points of the second half to briefly pull in front, but Valpo responded with 3-pointers on each of its next three possessions to lead, 37-31.
- The Brown and Gold never trailed again, and used a 14-4 stretch in the fourth quarter during which they held NDSU without a field goal to pull away.
- Stoller led all scorers in the game with 21 points, going 3-5 from behind the arc to match a career high with three 3-point makes. It was her first 20-point effort of the year after having six such games a season ago.
- Hales added 14 points and tied a career-best with nine rebounds.
...versus Ohio State
- A 3-pointer from Caitlin Morrison had Valpo within one at 11-10 with 3:08 to play in the first quarter.
- Valpo trailed 15-11 at the end of the first quarter, having forced six turnovers and held OSU to 36.4% shooting over the opening 10 minutes.
- After the teams traded baskets to start the second period, OSU went on a 12-2 run over a span of 3:39 to pull out to a 14-point lead, and then after Valpo cut the lead to nine, ended the half on an 11-2 run to lead 40-22 at the half before out-scoring Valpo 31-4 in the third quarter.
- Redshirt junior Addison Stoller paced Valpo with 11 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Shay Frederick tied for game-high honors with three assists.
- Valpo shot just 12-of-52 from the game and, coming off a record-setting 2018-19 campaign in the 3-point department, was just 2-for-25 from downtown. That mark matches the Brown and Gold’s worst shooting performance from the 3-point line in the tenure of head coach Mary Evans.
- Ohio State finished the game 35-of-67 (52.2%) from the field, but Valpo did force 18 turnovers. The Buckeyes entered the season with the nation’s fourth-ranked incoming freshman class, and the OSU rookies combined for 48 of its 89 points.
...looking ahead
- Valpo faces its second Power Five opponent of the young season on Thursday, Nov. 21 as it plays at Northwestern.
- In all, Valpo plays its first four games of the season away from home before its home opener on Nov. 24 against Bowling Green.
...on the road
- Valpo is 1-0 in true road games this year following the win at NDSU in the first of six true road non-conference games.
- The win over the Bison was Valpo’s largest true road win since a 13-point victory at Evansville on Feb. 25, 2018.
- Valpo posted a 2-12 record in true road games last season in Coach Evans’ first season at the helm.
- Both of Valpo’s road victories came in non-conference action, as it defeated Chicago State and Purdue Fort Wayne.
@UNDwbasketball
- The Fighting Hawks enter Sunday’s game at 2-1 on the young season following a 67-61 home win over Rhode Island Friday evening.
- North Dakota posted a 12-19 overall record in 2018-19 and was 6-10 in Summit League play.
- Through three games, Julia Fleecs leads the Fighting Hawks, averaging 12.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
- Jaclyn Jarnot adds 12.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game as well.
Forcing Turnovers
- It’s early in the season, but Valpo has turned up the defensive aggression and has forced 40 turnovers through the first two games.
- The Brown and Gold helped cause 18 turnovers in the season opener against Ohio State, and then last time out forced 22 miscues in the win at NDSU.
- The turnover differential was eye-popping against the Bison, as while the defense forced 22 NDSU turnovers, Valpo committed just eight turnovers of its own on the offensive end.
- The +14 turnover margin was the largest single-game difference in Valpo’s favor since the Brown and Gold forced 27 turnovers while committing just 11 in a win over Colorado State on Nov. 22, 2009.
The Difference From Deep
- Having a +30 advantage in points from the 3-point line is typically a good start towards winning a game, and that’s exactly what Valpo enjoyed at North Dakota State Friday night.
- Valpo finished the game 10-of-30 from the 3-point line, while holding the Bison without a 3-point make (0-for-14).
- It was the first time Valpo has held an advantage of at least 10 triples over its opponent since canning 13 3-pointers to Illinois State’s two on Feb. 3 of last season.
- Prior to Friday, the last time Valpo had kept its opponent from hitting a 3-pointer over the course of an entire game came on Nov. 29, 2013 at FIU.
Avenging Defeats
- Six of Valpo’s non-conference matchups are opportunities for it to flip a result and beat an opponent it lost to last year - North Dakota State, North Dakota, Bowling Green, Toledo, UIC and Morehead State.
- Valpo is 1-0 so far in that set of games following the win over NDSU.
Grace-ful Homecoming
- Receiving the waiver from the NCAA to be immediately eligible to play this season has extra-special meaning this weekend for junior Grace White.
- White is a member of the Ojibwe tribe and a native of Redby, Minn., located on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. She is the first Division I athlete from her home tribe.
- Busloads of fellow Ojibwe tribe members are expected to make the trip for this weekend’s two games to support White and Valpo, as Fargo is located just 2:50 from Redby and Grand Forks is two hours away.
- White saw action in two of Denver’s three games against North Dakota last season, averaging 5.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
Life on the Road
- Valpo is in the midst of a four-game stretch away from home to open the 2019-20 campaign.
- The Crusaders have one neutral site game and three road contests before finally opening up at home on Nov. 24.
- It is 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 Nov. 24 home opener is the program’s latest since the 2010-11 squad also took to the ARC floor for the first time on Nov. 24.
Easing Into the Season
- The Valpo women’s team was the last MVC team, men’s and women’s, to open up the 2019-20 season when it tipped off this past Sunday afternoon, six days into the campaign.
- In all, Valpo will play just once in the season’s first 10 days and just three times over the first 16 days.
Non-Conference Challenges
- The lid-lifter against Ohio State was one of four non-conference matchups for Valpo against postseason teams from a season ago.
- A WNIT finalist from last year awaits Valpo on Nov. 21, as it makes the short jaunt to Evanston to face Northwestern.
- Valpo will take on Toledo, which advanced to the second round of the WNIT last year, in a road game on Nov. 27.
- The quartet of WNIT opponents rounds out with a home game at the ARC against Morehead State - which defeated Ohio State in the opening round of last year’s WNIT - on Dec. 17.
- That sets the stage for an MVC slate which features two matchups apiece against three postseason teams last year: Missouri State (NCAA Sweet 16), Drake (NCAA) and UNI (WNIT).
From Way Downtown
- Valpo showcased a new style of play a year ago in the first season under head coach Mary Evans, far surpassing the program’s previous highs regarding 3-pointers.
- The 2018-19 squad set a single-season record with 276 3-pointers made, shattering the previous mark of 224 shared by the 1991-92 and 2007-08 Valpo teams and moving into seventh place in a single season in MVC history.
- Last year’s team also established a new watermark with 837 3-point attempts, roaring past the previous record of 676 held by the 1991-92 squad.
- The 2018-19 team boasts two of the top-five games in program history in 3-pointers made, including a record-tying 17 on Dec. 21, 2018 versus Bowling Green.
- Last year’s squad also holds five of the top-six games in terms of 3-pointers attempted, highlighted by a record-setting 44 tries from downtown on Feb. 8, 2019 against Drake.
- Looking at advanced metrics, Valpo ranked seventh nationally in 3-point rate (41.0%) - the percentage of all scoring attempts that are 3-point attempts - and eighth nationally in percentage of points from 3-point attempts (40.5%).
- It was a balanced effort from beyond the arc as well, as no one player had more than 58 triples on the year. Seven different players attempted at least two 3-pointers/game, with three of those seven trying at least four triples per contest.
