Valparaiso (4-15, 2-8 MVC)
Game #20 - Feb. 1, 2023 - 6 p.m.
UIC (12-9, 4-6 MVC)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.
Next Up in Valpo Basketball: With the start of February comes the beginning of the second half of the MVC slate for the Valpo women’s basketball team, as the back half of the conference schedule opens up Wednesday night at the ARC when UIC comes to town. It is Valpo's Women in Sports game, as the program celebrates 50 Years of Title IX.
Previously: Senior Olivia Brown matched her career high with 24 points on Sunday at the ARC, while junior Leah Earnest delivered 19 points as part of her seventh double-double of the year to lead the way as the Beacons closed out the first half of MVC play with a 78-71 victory over Bradley. Ali Saunders tallied 15 points as well as Valpo posted its highest scoring game in regulation of the season.
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Head Coach Mary Evans: Mary Evans is in her fifth year at the helm of the program in 2022-23 and owns a record of 52-83. Evans has made an impact on the program in her first four 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 in each of the last three seasons and in steals per game in two of the last three years.
Series Notes: Valpo renews acquaintances with the most common opponent in program history on Wednesday, as the Beacons match up with UIC for the 52nd time - the Flames hold a slim 27-24 edge in the series. The MVC marks the fourth different conference the two programs have shared affiliation in, as Valpo and UIC were both previously together in the North Star Conference (1988-92), the Mid-Continent Conference (1992-94) and the Horizon League (2007-17). In their first meeting as Valley foes, Valpo looked poised for the road win in Chicago last month, leading by eight with 4:58 to play, but UIC rallied and won 51-50 on a Josie Filer 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds to play. Olivia Sims scored 12 points off the bench to lead the Beacons.
@ValpoWBB...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo was picked to finish in 10th place in the MVC preseason poll, totaling 197 points, just 10 points behind Evansville.
- Valpo is in its sixth season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- The Valley was ranked 10th in conference NET last year, 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 finished last year with an 11-19 overall record, but was strong in MVC play, going 9-9 in conference and finishing in sixth place - both of which match the program’s best since joining the Valley.
- The Beacons registered the first win at Drake and the first win at Bradley in program history.
- Valpo swept the season series over Drake, the program’s first two wins ever against the Bulldogs.
- The Beacons also tallied four top-100 wins within Valley play.
- Grace White was named MVC Sixth Player of the Year - the program’s first major postseason award since joining the Valley. Shay Frederick was a First Team All-MVC choice, while White was an All-Defensive Team selection and Olivia Brown earned a spot on the All-Newcomer Team.
...versus Bradley
- Bradley led 19-18 at the end of the first quarter, but Valpo outscored the Braves by four in the second period to lead 35-32 at intermission.
- A 10-2 run spanning the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth pushed Valpo’s lead into double figures for the first time at 63-53.
- Bradley closed to within 72-68 with 1:35 to play, but Valpo erased over a minute off the game clock on its next offensive possession. The Beacons missed a pair of 3-point attempts during the trip, but Olivia Brown brought down a pair of offensive rebounds. Bradley finally fouled Saunders to send her to the line with 34 seconds to play, and the rookie calmly knocked down both to make it a 74-68 game.
- Olivia Brown led the way with 24 points to tie her career high, 13 of which came in the first quarter.
- The senior went 8-of-10 from the field, including a 6-of-8 mark from the 3-point line. The 6-of-8 effort from deep matches her performance in the MVC opener at Belmont, tying a career high for 3-pointers made and tying for the seventh-best 3-point percentage in a single game in program history.
- Leah Earnest finished just one point off her career high with a 19-point afternoon. The junior picked up her seventh double-double of the campaign as she tied for game-high honors with 11 rebounds.
- Earnest also rewrote her career bests in a pair of other categories. She dished out four assists for the first time in her collegiate career and matched her career high with three steals.
- Valpo posted its season-high point total in regulation with its 78 points on Sunday. The Beacons shot 48.2% (27-of-56) from the floor, their best shooting percentage since the MVC opener at Belmont, and were 9-of-24 from 3-point range.
- Valpo won despite Bradley hitting at a 50% clip from the field and going 6-of-12 from the 3-point line.
...versus Illinois State
- The Redbirds led 23-6 at the end of the first quarter and extended their lead to as many as 28 points in the second quarter.
- An 11-2 Valpo run, which included two 3-pointers from Ali Saunders, cut the Illinois State lead to 38-19, but the Redbirds got 3-pointers on their final two possessions of the half to lead 44-19 at intermission.
- Valpo played Illinois State even in the third quarter, thanks in large part to six strong minutes Jayda Johnston. Johnston came in and delivered 13 points in the third period alone, hitting all five of her field goal attempts.
- Johnston, who entered halftime scoreless, ended up leading the Beacons with 14 points on Friday — just two points off her career high.
- Saunders delivered strong offense off the bench as well, finishing with 13 points and connecting on three 3-pointers for the first time in her career.
- Ava Interrante finished with eight points and a team-high three steals as the Beacons registered 10 steals as a team — the third time in the last five games Valpo has recorded double-digit steals.
- Valpo shot just 32.6% from the field and was a season-worst 4-for-26 from the 3-point line.
- Sophomore Katie Beyer received her first career start on Friday.
...looking ahead
- Valpo heads down to Carbondale on Saturday for its lone matchup against Southern Illinois in the regular season.
- The Beacons then return right back home to the ARC next weekend as they host Drake and UNI.
...at the ARC
- Friday’s game is the 11th of 15 home games this season for Valpo and the sixth home MVC game.
- The Beacons are 3-7 at home so far this year and went 6-7 in home games last season.
@UIC_WBB
- UIC enters Wednesday’s game at 12-9 overall and 4-6 through the first half of the Valley schedule.
- The Flames dropped a 55-42 decision last time out to Illinois State after earning a 52-38 win over Bradley on the front half of the weekend.
- Josie Filer leads UIC, averaging 12.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, while Jaida McCloud also scores in double figures (10.5 PPG).
Victory Beacon Bits
- Not only did Olivia Brown tie her career high for scoring against Bradley, she also pulled down seven rebounds to set a new high in her time at Valpo.
- Three of Brown’s rebounds came on the offensive end, all in the second half. The senior had tallied just one offensive rebound in the first nine and a half games of the MVC slate.
- Brown’s efficiency was almost literally off the charts. Going 8-of-10 overall and 6-of-8 from 3-point range results in an effective field goal percentage of 110%. Per HerHoopStats.com, Brown is one of just nine D-I players this season to score 24 or more points in a game with an eFG% of at least 110%.
- Ali Saunders scored in double figures for the 10th time, finishing with 15 points.
- Saunders registered five assists while committing just one turnover, while Ilysse Pitts and Leah Earnest each tallied four assists and just one turnover. It marks the first time since Feb. 28, 2009 that three Valpo players have all posted 4+ assists with no more than one turnover in the same game.
- The Beacons committed just eight turnovers on Sunday, a season low and 11 turnovers below their average in MVC play entering the game. It is the team’s lowest turnover total since surrendering the ball just seven times on Feb. 10, 2022 — notably, also a home win over Bradley. While Valpo forced just 11 Bradley miscues, it held a 17-7 edge in points off turnovers.
Double-Digit Quarters
- The Beacons have had a player score 13 points in a quarter in each of the last two games - the highest single-period mark for a Valpo player this season.
- Last time out against Bradley, it was Olivia Brown who poured in 13 points in the first quarter.
- That was Brown’s third double-digit quarter of the year, as she previously had 11 points in the second quarter at Drake and 10 points in the fourth quarter against Western Michigan.
- Two games back, Jayda Johnston poured in 13 points in just 6:22 of playing time in the third quarter against Illinois State.
- Four Beacons in all have scored double digits in a single period this year.
- Ali Saunders had a pair of double-digit periods against UAB - 10 points in the first quarter and 11 points in overtime - while Maya Dunson had 11 points in the fourth quarter versus Indiana State.
Sharpshooting Brown
- In a 10-game span, Olivia Brown has twice hit 6-of-8 from the 3-point line, doing so in the MVC opener at Belmont and last time out in the win over Bradley.
- The .750 3-point percentage is tied for seventh-best in a single game in program history (minimum 7 attempts).
- Brown is now the only player to appear twice on that single-game top-10 chart.
- On the season, Brown is hitting at a .448 clip from deep - a percentage she has bumped to an MVC-best .509 in conference play.
- Brown’s .448 3-point percentage would currently rank third in a single season in program history.
- Brown is shooting .425 from downtown in her two seasons at Valpo, a mark which currently sits second in program history for a career.
Earnest Doubles Up
- Junior Leah Earnest has been one of the Valley’s most effective rebounders this season, averaging 8.1 rebounds/game.
- She has posted eight double-figure rebounding performances this year - most recently a 11-board effort in the win over Bradley.
- Earnest now owns the top-three individual rebounding efforts in head coach Mary Evans’ tenure with 14 against EIU and 13 against both UAB and Wisconsin.
- Earnest also scored 19 points, one off her career high, on Sunday against the Braves, giving her seven double-doubles this season after recording just one in her first two seasons combined.
- Earnest is the first player in program history to tally three double-doubles in the first four games of a season.
- Earnest already has more double-doubles this season than Valpo has posted as a team since the 2017-18 season. She is the first Valpo player with at least six double-doubles in a single campaign since Dani Franklin tallied eight during the 2016-17 season.
Happy Homestand
- It’s a much needed home-heavy stretch of games for Valpo over the next couple weeks.
- Starting with last Friday’s game against Illinois State, Valpo plays five of next six games at home, with a Feb. 4 road game at Southern Illinois the lone venture away from the ARC in a three-week span.
- The stretch of five home games in 17 days comes after playing just one home game in the last 20 days.
- In fact, Valpo will play as many home games in this 17-day stretch as it played over the previous 66 days.
- Outside of the COVID-affected season of 2020-21, Valpo has not had five home games within a six-game span in league play since joining the Valley. This is the first time since playing five consecutive home Horizon League games Jan. 21-Feb. 6, 2016.
Second Half Scoring
- Remarkably, three different Valpo players have scored 14 or more points in a game this season after entering halftime scoreless.
- Most recently, Jayda Johnston dropped 14 points in the second half against Illinois State after being held without a first-half point.
- Previously, Maya Dunson scored 14 second-half points against Indiana State and Ava Interrante went for 15 in the second half at Western Illinois following scoreless first halves.
- Johnston also did not miss a shot from the field, going 5-for-5 to become the first Valpo player with at least five makes without a miss since Carie Weinman went 6-for-6 against UNI on Feb. 28, 2020.
Improvement on the Glass
- This year’s Valpo team has been the best in terms of rebounding margin in the tenure of head coach Mary Evans, and the Beacons have been even better within conference play.
- In their eight nonconference games, the Beacons were a -5.3 in rebounding margin and surrendered 5.9 more offensive rebounds per game than they grabbed.
- But within MVC play, Valpo has been just -3.9 in rebounding margin and has surrendered just 1.8 more offensive rebounds per game than it has tallied.
- The win over Missouri State was especially notable - Valpo enjoyed a 28-23 advantage on the glass, a +5 edge that came against a Missouri State team which outrebounded the Beacons by a combined 36 boards in last season’s two matchups, and which had enjoyed a double-figure rebounding advantage in each of its last four games.
- The Lady Bears’ 23 rebounds were their lowest total since Feb. 11, 2018.
Heartbreaking Losses
- Valpo’s loss at UIC on Josie Filer’s 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds remaining was its second last-second defeat this season.
- The Beacons fell in overtime to UAB on Nov. 21 when the Blazers’ Maria Roters hit a layup with 3.3 seconds to play in the extra period.
- Prior to the UAB game, Valpo had not lost a game by a single possession since another heartbreaking defeat - a 74-73 loss to #25 Missouri State on Jan. 31, 2021 on three free throws with 0.8 seconds left.
- This year is the first time Valpo has lost multiple games on a last-second shot (inside the final five seconds) since 2010-11 - that year’s squad fell 69-67 at Evansville on a layup with 1.1 seconds remaining and 70-69 at Milwaukee on a jumper in the paint with 4.9 seconds to play.
Setting Career Bests
- Ilysse Pitts’ explosive performance against Missouri State, where she more than doubled her previous career best of 11 points with a 24-point game in the win over the Lady Bears, was just the latest in a string of career-best performances on the offensive end from Valpo players this year.
- A pair of Valpo players have set career highs in the scoring column this season despite being scoreless at halftime of the respective games - Maya Dunson versus Indiana State (14) and Ava Interrante at Western Illinois (15).
- Also in that WIU game, junior Jayda Johnston raced past her previous high of six points just 2:05 into the second quarter on her way to a team-best 16 points.
- Nine of Valpo’s 11 players who have seen action this season have tied or set career bests for scoring - notably, three separate games have featured multiple Beacons hitting career highs.
- The season-opening win at Central Michigan featured career bests for Leah Earnest (20) and Katie Beyer (11), while Ali Saunders (32) and Olivia Sims (12) hit career highs in the overtime loss to UAB.
A New Rookie Standard
- Freshman Ali Saunders set a new mark for Valpo rookies as she scored 32 points against UAB.
- The previous freshman record is unknown, but there have now been 16 games in program history a Valpo player has scored 32 or more points, and none of the previous 15 came from a rookie.
- Saunders posted the highest-scoring game by any Valpo player since Dani Franklin dropped 33 points against Eastern Illinois on Dec. 3, 2016.
- Saunders was in double figures in the scoring column in each of the first four games of her collegiate career - the first Valpo freshman since Franklin in 2014-15 to do so.
