Valparaiso (0-9, 0-0 MVC)
Game #10 - December 19, 2021 - noon CT
at Morehead State (1-7, 0-0 OVC)
Johnson Arena (6,500) - Morehead, Ky.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valpo women’s basketball team returns to action following final exams for the first of two final tune-ups before the start of MVC play, making the trip to Morehead, Ky. to face Morehead State on Sunday afternoon.
Previously: Valpo point guard Shay Frederick became the 17th player in program history to hit the 1,000-point milestone for her career last Friday evening at South Dakota as the host Coyotes earned a 51-31 victory over the Beacons.
Following Valpo Basketball: Streaming Video: ESPN+
Radio: WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso)
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Links for all live coverage: Available via ValpoAthletics.com
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 37-58. 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: Sunday afternoon will mark the third meeting all-time between the two programs, with each team holding a win on its home court. The last meeting came on Dec. 17, 2019 at the ARC, as Valpo edged the Eagles by a 55-53 final - the team’s fifth straight win in what would eventually become a seven-game winning streak. Addison Stoller led Valpo in the win with 18 points, while Shay Frederick handed out eight 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 in 2021-22.
- 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 South Dakota
- Shay Frederick hit a midrange floater in the final seconds of the opening quarter to reach the 1,000-point mark for her career, tying the game at 10-10.
- Valpo hit just two free throws in the second quarter, but limited the Coyotes to just seven points to keep it a five-point game (17-12) at intermission.
- South Dakota scored the first 12 points of the second half and led 37-19 with 10 minutes to play.
- No Valpo player scored in double figures on Friday, as Grace White led the Beacons with nine points and seven rebounds.
- Valpo shot just 20.5% from the field on Friday evening against a South Dakota squad which limited Bradley to 39 points in its last outing and improved to 69-5 all-time inside the Sanford Coyote Sports Center.
- The Beacons did connect on all 10 of their free throw attempts, the seventh time in program history and the third time in the last three seasons they have hit 100% on 10 or more tries from the foul line.
...versus #22/23 Notre Dame
- Back-to-back 3-pointers in the final minute of the first quarter from Shay Frederick gave Valpo a 19-14 lead at the end of the first.
- The Beacons extended their lead to eight points with the first basket of the second quarter, but Notre Dame out-scored Valpo 11-3 over the final eight minutes of the period to tie the game 25-25 at halftime.
- The second quarter’s defensive battle turned into an offensive explosion after the halftime break. Notre Dame shot 10-of-13 from the floor in the third quarter, while Valpo was 8-of-13 from the field in that period as well.
- It was the Beacons who scored the first two baskets of the second half, as a Frederick triple and a Morrison layup put Valpo ahead 30-25 just over a minute into the half.
- Notre Dame scored the next seven points to pull ahead 32-30 with 6:19 to play in the third quarter, and Valpo would never lead outright again. The Irish led 50-45 at the end of the third and scored nine of the first 11 points of the fourth.
- Wednesday marked Valpo’s 48th game in program history against a nationally-ranked team. It was also the program’s 28th game all-time against Notre Dame, and the Fighting Irish have been nationally ranked for 16 of those — including eight visits to the ARC.
- Wednesday’s result was Valpo’s closest effort against a nationally-ranked Notre Dame team since the 2008-09 team fell 63-55 to the eighth-ranked Irish.
- Frederick’s 10-point opening period propelled her to a team-high 19 points on Wednesday, also a season best in the scoring column. She went 8-of-15 from the field, including three 3-pointers.
- Valpo forced 15 Notre Dame turnovers and converted those into 18 points, finishing the game with an 18-8 advantage in points off turnovers. The Beacons also out-scored the Fighting Irish in the paint, 32-24.x
...looking ahead
- The Beacons’ last game before Christmas comes on Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 21 at the ARC against Detroit Mercy.
- Following the holiday, Missouri Valley Cofnerence play starts for Valpo with the longest trip of the conference slate, starting at Southern Illinois on Friday, Dec. 31.
...on the road
- Sunday marks the final non-conference road game and the seventh of 16 road games in all for Valpo this season.
- Valpo has 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.
@MSUEaglesWBB
- Morehead State enters the weekend at 1-7 overall, with a Saturday game against USC Upstate before Sunday’s matchup with the Beacons.
- The Eagles’ lone win to date came over NAIA opponent Midway.
- MSU has played six of its first eight games away from home, including a 79-49 loss at Evansville.
Frederick Reaches 1,000
- Senior guard Shay Frederick became the 17th player in Valpo women’s basketball history to reach the 1,000-point milestone for her career last time out.
- Frederick now owns 1,003 career points, 12 shy of Carrie Forsman for 16th-most in program history.
- Frederick is one of just two players in program history with at least 1,000 career points and 300 career assists.
- Frederick now has 388 career assists, good for fifth in program history. Next up is Laura Richards in fourth position with 392 career assists.
Another 1,000 Approaching
- It won’t be long until this year’s team has a pair of 1,000-point scorers on the court at the same time.
- Carie Weinman enters Sunday’s game at Morehead State with 940 career points.
- 191 of Weinman’s points came in one season at Denver, with the other 749 coming in her three seasons at Valpo.
- Weinman is averaging 11.9 points/game in her time at Valpo, seventh-best in program history.
Suiting Up Again and Again
- Sixth-year forward Caitlin Morrison cracked Valpo’s career top-10 for games played earlier this season at UIC.
- Morrison made her 121st appearance in the Valpo uniform last time out at South Dakota, moving into a tie for fifth place in program history with Dani Franklin.
- When she takes the court against Morehead State, Morrison will move into a tie for fourth in career games played with Jeanette Gray.
- Morrison has started in 117 of her 121 appearances.
- She is just four games shy of reaching Kathryn Knoester’s program record of 125 career games played.
Coming Up With Steals
- Grace White matched a career high against Notre Dame, racking up five steals which Valpo turned into seven points on the offensive end of the court.
- While that was White’s best performance of the season in the steals department, she has been tallying thefts all season long.
- White has registered three or more steals in six of Valpo’s nine games to date.
- She is averaging 2.9 steals/game so far this season, tops in the Valley and tied for 28th nationally.
Taking Advantage of Charity
- After shooting just 62% from the foul line over the season’s first eight games, Valpo took full advantage of its trips to the charity stripe at South Dakota.
- The Beacons were a perfect 10-for-10 at the line, as Grace White made all six of her attempts and Olivia Brown and Leah Earnest added two freebies apiece.
- It marks the seventh time in program history Valpo has shot 100% from the foul line with at least 10 attempts, three of which have come in the last three seasons.
Notable Wins
- The last two seasons have featured a combined 29 wins for Valpo, including many notable victories.
- The 2020-21 squad counted some big wins among its 12 victories, including a pair of literal B1G wins, as the Brown and Gold beat multiple Big Ten teams in the same season for the first time in program history.
- Entering the season without a win over a Power Five program since 2012-13, Valpo won at Illinois for its first-ever win over the Illini, and followed four days later with a road win at Purdue - the second win in program history over the Boilermakers.
- Valpo became the first women’s basketball program with multiple nonconference road wins at Big Ten programs since 2017-18.
- The team picked up some big wins once the schedule flipped to Missouri Valley Conference play as well last season, as three of Valpo’s seven conference victories came over teams in the top-100 of the NET.
- The 2019-20 Valpo squad had one of the top turnarounds in program history from the previous year and one of the best turnarounds in the nation. It more than doubled the win total from the prior season, as the 2018-19 team went 8-24 overall, while the 2019-20 squad went 17-12.
- It was the second-largest improvement in the win column from one year to the next in program history, trailing only the 2001-02 team, which improved an astounding 19 wins from the previous season (7-22 -> 26-7).
- Valpo’s 10.5 game improvement ranked sixth nationally.
- Valpo’s 17 wins in 2019-20 made it the program’s winningest campaign since 2006-07.
- The wins in 2019-20 came in non-conference play, where Valpo posted an 8-3 record – the best pre-conference mark in program history.
- The wins came away from home, as Valpo went 9-5 in true road games – the most road wins since the 2001-02 team won nine true road games.
- The wins came when the schedule shifted to MVC action, as Valpo finished 2019-20 9-9 in MVC play – its first .500 or better record in league play since 2008-09.
Raining Threes
- In her time at the helm of the Valpo program, head coach Mary Evans’ teams have become known for their propensity to shoot 3-pointers.
- Evans’ first three seasons at the helm have seen Valpo’s top-3 single-season total 3-pointers made, including a program-record 276 in her first season in 2018-19 - a mark which ranks seventh in MVC history.
- Valpo has ranked among the top-25 in the nation in 3-pointers/game all three years, with the 2020-21 squad setting a program single-season record by averaging 9.0 triples/game.
- Prior to Evans’ arrival, Valpo had made 14 or more 3-pointers in a game just nine times in program history.
- In the three seasons with her at the helm, Valpo owns nine more games with 14+ triples, including twice matching the program single-game record of 17.
- The style of play isn’t a surprise if you follow the coaching tree. Evans coached under Bob Boldon at Ohio for five years before getting the head job at Valpo, and Boldon was a former assistant coach at FGCU under their legendary head coach, Karl Smesko, whose teams have ranked among the top-5 in the nation in 3-pointers made in each of the last 10 years.
Thievery Abounds
- As much as the offensive end has been highlighted by the 3-point numbers under Evans, the defensive side has seen prolific steal numbers over the last three seasons.
- Valpo has averaged at least 8.9 steals/game in each of Evans’ three seasons.
- Each of the last two years has seen Valpo rank among the top-40 teams nationally in steals/game.
- Carie Weinman has led the MVC in steals in each of the last two seasons. She ranked 16th nationally last year, averaging 2.9 steals/game.
- Valpo tallied double figures in steals 12 times in 25 games in 2020-21, after doing so 16 times the previous season.
- With 300 steals, the 2019-20 squad finished the campaign eighth in program history in the category. The 2001-02 team (330 steals) is the only Valpo team in the last quarter-century to have registered more steals.
A Look at the Non-Conference
- Head coach Mary Evans has put together a challenging non-conference schedule to help prepare Valpo for the grind of MVC play.
- The non-conference slate features five teams which finished within the top-100 of the NCAA NET ranking last season, including three teams which appeared in the NCAA Tournament.
- Valpo will take on four MAC opponents, including the reigning regular season (Bowling Green) and tournament (Central Michigan) champions.
- The Beacons will host Notre Dame at the ARC on Dec. 8.
- Valpo also has trips to two programs - Michigan State and South Dakota - which finished in the top-40 of the NET last year.
Starters, Assemble
- Four regular starters return for Valpo in 2021-22, including a trio who own extensive streaks of consecutive games started.
- Shay Frederick, Caitlin Morrison and Carie Weinman were three of the four players who started every game a season ago.
- Frederick has started 75 consecutive games dating back to the middle of her freshman year, while Morrison and Weinman have made 63 starts in a row.
- The three were members of a quintet which started every single game in the 2019-20 season - the first time in program history the same five players started every game.
- Grace White started all 22 games she was available for last season as well.
- Valpo had a shakeup in the starting lineup for the first time this season at WMU, inserting Cara VanKempen in place of Maya Dunson.
