CHICAGO STATE (8-8, 3-2 Mid-Con) at VALPARAISO (9-6, 3-1 Mid-Con)

WHEN: Monday, January 17, 2005, 7:05 p.m. CST.

WHERE: Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000), Valparaiso, Ind.

RADIO: WVUR (95.1-FM) and on the internet at www.valpo.edu/athletics. Baron Brendel and Braden Radtke will call all of the action.

TV: Tape Delay. Comcast Cablevision Local Access. Dick Harlan and Paul Curtis broadcasting. The game will air on Jan. 22 at 2 p.m. and Jan. 24 at 12 p.m.

THE COACHES: Valparaiso is led by Keith Freeman, who is in his 17th season of coaching, and 11th with the Crusaders. He is 313-171 overall and 184-124 at Valpo. Chicago State is led by Angela Jackson, who is 16-28 in her 2nd season overall and with the Cougars.

SERIES RECORD: Valparaiso leads the all-time series with Chicago State 30-2. Valpo holds a 15-0 advantage against the Cougars at the ARC.

LAST SEASON: Valpo won both regular season meetings against the Cougars. The Cruasders were a 63-58 victor in Chicago on Feb. 9 behind 13 points by Kathryn Knoester. The teams also concluded the regular season with a Mar. 1 meeting at the ARC which Valpo won 56-46. Tamra Braun led the Brown and Gold with 18 points and 13 rebounds in the victory.

After struggling to score on Saturday afternoon in a loss at UMKC, the Valparaiso University Crusaders will look to rebound on Monday evening as the Crusaders host Chicago State. Valpo fell 47-35 in Kansas City as the Crusaders shot just 16.1% from the floor.

STANGLER NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jenna Stangler was named the Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Week after averaging 19.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and 2.0 assists in a pair of wins last week. Stangler shot 72.7% from the floor (16-of-22). She had 23 points against Oakland and 16 points against Oral Roberts.

CRUSADERS AMONG NATION'S BEST: The Crusaders' 13.3 turnovers per game through January 10 ranked fifth in the country in that category. Valpo also was 16th in fewest personal fouls committed at 13.9 per game, while Tamra Braun's 2.2 blocks per contest ranked her 39th individually. Jenna Stangler is 43rd in free throw shooting, making 85.1% from the charity stripe.

SUPER WOMAN: Lauren Bechtold has played all 40 minutes in five games already this season. She saw every minute of action against Central Michigan, Loyola (Ill.) earlier this season, and has played the entire game in three straight contests as well. Bechtold has not stepped off the over the last three games against Oakland, Oral Roberts, or UMKC.

AS EASY AS SHOOTING AND REBOUNDING WELL: Valpo is 6-0 when outrebounding opponents and 8-0 when shooting better than the opposition this season.

BRAUN GRABS THE BOARDS: Tamra Braun grabbed 12 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end on Saturday at UMKC. Braun has tallied three double-figure rebounding games this year.

BOONE REACHES 400 ASSISTS: Katie Boone became just the third player in Crusader history to reach 400 career assists with three at UMKC. She joins Debbie Bolen (651) and Maureen Drabicki (424) on the elite list.

CHICAGO STATE NOTES: Chicago State dropped a 64-53 decision to Southern Utah on Saturday afternoon in Cedar City, Utah. The Cougars fell to 1-1 in Mid-Continent Conference action on the road. Chandra Timberlake and Ayesha Neasley led Chicago State with 12 points each in the loss.

The Cougars have a balanced offensive attack, with seven players averaging between 6.0 and 9.7 points per game. Tina Hill leads Chicago State scoring 9.7 points per night, and is also averaging 3.8 assists per game. Renada Blackburn has scored 9.5 points per game, while grabbing a team-leading 9.3 rebounds per contest.

Chicago State has struggled shooting the basketball, connecting on just 34.4% of its shots this season. The Cougars are +1.3 in turnover margin though. As a team, the Cougars are also +4.0 in rebounding margin.

The Cougars return home on Saturday afternoon, where they are 6-3 on the season, to entertain Oral Roberts in Chicago.