The Valparaiso University women’s basketball team outscored Missouri State 23-17 in the second quarter and trailed by just four at halftime, but the Bears went on a 24-0 run in the third on their way to an 83-60 win on Friday night at JQH Arena in Springfield, Mo. Dani Franklin (Cedar Rapids, Iowa / George Washington), Grace Hales (Cromwell, Ind. / Westview) and Nicole Konieczny (Granger, Ind. / South Bend St. Joseph) all scored in double figures for Valpo.

How It Happened

• The Crusaders (9-8, 2-4 MVC) trailed by six just two minutes in after surrendering a pair of early triples, and couldn’t recover in the first quarter. The Bears (10-8, 6-1) opened up a 10-point lead at 15-5 with 3:06 to go in the first, and the edge stood at 10 at 20-10 after one quarter.
• The opening 10 minutes saw both teams struggle to shoot the ball, as Valpo went 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) while holding Missouri State to 6-of-17 (35.3 percent).
• Valpo’s strongest quarter was the second, when the Crusaders outscored the Bears 23-17 to cut the lead to four.
• Redshirt freshman Addition Stoller (Cissna Park, Ill. / Cissna Park) came off the bench to provide a second-quarter spark, pulling down an offensive rebound and putting it back up and in to shrink the Missouri State cushion to three at 23-20 with 4:59 left in the second. Stoller scored six points in the second quarter alone, going 2-of-2 from the field and 2-of-2 at the stripe.
• The third period swung the game, as Bryce Blood (Toledo, Ohio / Whitmer) made a jumper 31 seconds into the second half to make it 38-35, but Valpo didn’t score again until a 3-pointer by senior Georgi Donchetz (Savage, Minn. / Burnsville) stemmed the tide with 2:13 remaining in the third. When it was all said and done, Missouri State had outscored Valpo 30-10 in the third by outshooting the Crusaders 52.4 percent to 23.1 percent.
• The Crusaders shot 50 percent in the fourth quarter, outscoring Missouri State 17-16 in that period. Franklin came to life in the final 10 minutes, scoring eight points on 3-of-4 shooting.

Inside the Game

• Valpo made just two turnovers in the first half, but then committed 14 after halftime.
• Franklin reached double figures for the 13^th time this season and led the team in scoring for the 10^th time this year with her team-high 14 points. She also led the team in rebounds with seven.
• Hales chipped in 12 points, her seventh double-figure output of the year. She’s now scored double figures in consecutive games after five straight contests with fewer than 10 points.  
• Konieczny had 11 points to reach double figures for the third straight game. Entering that three-game stretch, she had two double-figure outputs in the first 14 games of her career.
• Freshman Ella Ellenson (Rice Lake, Wis. / Rice Lake) secured five boards in only eight minutes.

Up Next

The Crusaders will continue the road swing on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. CT at Southern Illinois. The game can be seen on The Valley on ESPN3, heard on 95.1 FM Valparaiso with Ben Ariano and Brandon Vickrey on the call and followed via live stats. Coverage links are available on ValpoAthletics.com.