Valparaiso (4-6, 0-0 MVC)
Game #11 - December 21, 2024 - 1 p.m.
Detroit Mercy (7-2, 2-0 Horizon)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The final tuneup prior to the start of Missouri Valley Conference play for the Valpo women's basketball team comes on Saturday afternoon, as the Beacons host former Horizon League rival Detroit Mercy for a Christmas Party at the ARC.

Previously: Returning to game action for the first time in two weeks, Nevaeh Jackson smashed her previous career high with a game-high 26 points and Valpo held the lead entering the fourth quarter Wednesday at Saint Louis, but the host Billikens outscored the Beacons by 13 in the final 10 minutes to claim a 69-59 win.

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Head Coach Mary Evans: Mary Evans is in her seventh year at the helm of the program in 2024-25 and owns a record of 64-122. Evans' first six seasons at the helm have seen Valpo's six of the top-eight single-season 3-pointers made marks, including each of the top five, while defensively, her teams have racked up steals at a high rate, averaging at least 7.7 steals/game in five of her six seasons. Under her guidance, Valpo players have earned an MVC Sixth Player of the Year honor, five All-Conference accolades, three All-Freshman/Newcomer Team awards and three All-Defensive Team honors.

Series Notes: The Titans hold a 16-13 advantage in the all-time series between the former league foes, including a slim 7-6 edge in games played at the ARC. Valpo has claimed the last three matchups, however, including a 69-57 home win three years ago to the day of Saturday's game in the last meeting between the two programs. The Beacons hit 14 3-pointers in that win, four of which came in the fourth quarter as they pulled away for the victory. Grace White had a game-high 19 points, while Leah Earnest - the lone player who played in the game still on either roster - came off the bench for nine points and eight rebounds.

@ValpoWBB...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo was picked to finish in eighth place in the MVC preseason poll, totaling 193 points to edge out Indiana State.
- The eighth-place projection is two spots ahead of the Beacons' regular-season finish last year.
- Valpo is in its eighth season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- The Valley was ranked 13th in conference NET last season. In Valpo's time in the MVC, the conference has been ranked as high as seventh in NET (2020-21).

...looking back at last year
- Valpo finished last season with a 5-25 overall record and finished at 4-16 in MVC play, good for 10th in the Valley standings.
- Leah Earnest was a Second Team All-MVC honoree. 
- Valpo won three consecutive road games in Valley play, the second straight year the Beacons have accomplished that - prior to that, the program had last accomplished that feat against three different opponents since 2007.

...at Saint Louis
- Valpo jumped out to a quick start, scoring the opening eight points in just over two minutes to force an early SLU timeout. While the Billikens got within two points multiple times later in the frame, the Beacons kept them at bay and held a 20-16 lead at the end of the first.
- The second quarter was tightly contested, featuring three ties and six lead changes as it was played almost entirely with no team holding more than a one-possession edge. A 3-pointer by Nevaeh Jackson with 1:15 to play in the half capped a 17-point half for the sophomore and proved to be the difference at intermission, as the Beacons headed into the locker room with a 32-29 lead.
- Saint Louis scored the first basket of the second half to briefly tie the game, but Valpo responded with 11 points in a row — a 3-pointer by Maci Rhoades, a layup from Raeven Raye-Redmond and back-to-back Jackson triples — to earn its largest lead at 43-32 with 5:06 to play in the period and force a SLU timeout.
- Right out of the stoppage, the Billikens turned the tables with 11 points of their own in a row over the next four-plus minutes to tie the game with less than a minute to play in the quarter. Katie Beyer hit from deep in the final seconds of the period to give Valpo the lead back with 10 minutes to play, 46-43.
- After the teams traded baskets to open the fourth quarter, SLU scored nine points over four possessions while keeping the Beacons off the board to pull ahead, 54-48, and force a Valpo timeout with 7:03 to play. Layla Gold drove and finished on Valpo's first possession after the timeout to cut its deficit to four, but that was as close as the Beacons would get the rest of the way.
- Wednesday's loss came against a Saint Louis program which won the 2024 WNIT and the 2023 A-10 Tournament, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in the latter year.
- Jackson's performance was the highlight of the evening for the Beacons. The sophomore, who entered the game with a career high of 20 points accomplished twice this season, soared past that with a game-high 26 points, including a 6-of-11 mark from 3-point range to match her career best for triples made. Jackson also set a career best with nine field goals made.
- Maci Rhoades reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time this season as she scored 11 points, hitting 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
- The Beacons enjoyed their best shooting game of the year from the perimeter, finishing 12-of-25 from downtown, but were limited to 9-of-36 shooting from inside the arc. Valpo was outscored 40-16 in the paint by SLU.
- The Beacons did continue to force turnovers at a high rate, as the Billikens coughed the ball up 19 times, but Valpo committed 16 turnovers as well and SLU actually held a slight 21-17 edge in points off turnovers.

...versus Western Michigan
- Valpo opened the game on a 9-2 run over the first four minutes, and then bookended the first quarter with a 10-2 run to lead 21-8 at the end of the first quarter.
- Leah Earnest hit a 3-pointer on Valpo's first possession of the second quarter to extend the advantage to 16 points, but WMU scored seven straight to force a Beacon timeout with 6:57 to play in the half and the lead cut to 24-15.
- The Broncos got no closer than nine in the second quarter, however, and a steal and buzzer-beating layup from Nevaeh Jackson heading into halftime gave the Beacons a 34-20 lead.
- A trifecta from Maci Rhoades on the opening trip of the third quarter gave Valpo its largest lead of the game at 17. WMU came back with a 12-3 run over the next four-plus minutes, cutting its deficit to 40-32 halfway through the period.
- 3-pointers on consecutive possessions by Kayla Preston and Earnest staved off that Bronco threat, and the Beacons' advantage was 51-36 with 10 minutes to play.
- WMU pulled back to within eight as it scored eight points in less than two minutes to open the fourth quarter, making it a 52-44 game.
- Valpo kept the Broncos off the board on their next four possessions and took advantage on the offensive end, as Lexi Castator hit a pair of free throws and Jackson and Rhoades converted layups to push the lead back to 58-44 with five minutes to play. WMU got no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
 -Valpo extended its home winning streak to three straight games with the win.
- The victory was just the second for Valpo in seven meetings with WMU over the last 13 seasons.
- The Beacons enjoyed their second-best shooting game of the season, as they hit 50% (22-of-44) from the field and 40% (8-of-20) from 3-point range — numbers outdone only by their performance in the North Dakota win.
- Earnest paced the Beacons' offense with 23 points (6-of-10 FG), the 12th game of her career with 20 or more points. Earnest tallied 10 rebounds as well as she registered her second straight double-double and the 18th of her career.
- Jackson continued her consistent year with a 14-point night, going 5-of-9 from the field as she scored in double figures for the seventh time this season. The sophomore added three steals as well to match her season best.
- Rhoades tied her career high with 12 points, going 5-of-9 from the field and hitting a pair of 3-pointers.
- Layla Gold handed out a team-high four assists to set a career high and matched her career best with four steals.
- Raeven Raye-Redmond filled up the stat sheet with four points, four rebounds, three assists and six steals — the latter mark the second-highest single-game total of her career.

...looking ahead
- On the other side of Christmas is the start of MVC play, as the Beacons kick off Valley action Sunday, Dec. 29 against Southern Illinois at the ARC.
- A home game in the first half of Valley action this season is a rarity for Valpo, however, as after the conference opener, the Beacons spend four straight games on the road, starting with a trip to UNI and Drake.

...at the ARC
- Saturday's game is the fifth of 15 home games this season for the Beacons, as Valpo will host five nonconference games and 10 MVC games.
- Valpo is 3-1 at the ARC this season and went 2-10 at home last season.

@Detroit_WBB
- Detroit Mercy enters Saturday's game at 7-2 overall this year and 2-0 in Horizon League play.
- The Titans' lone setbacks have come against Michigan and Michigan State.
- Last season, UDM went 17-16, a 12-win improvement over the previous season.
- Aaliyah McQueen leads the Titans, averaging 15.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, while Emaia O'Brien scores 14.1 points/game and hits at a 41.9% clip from 3-point range.

Familiar Foes
- Saturday marks the last of three games in nonconference action which sees the Beacons take on a former conference opponent.
- Valpo's third game of the season saw the Beacons face off with Milwaukee for the first time since the former departed the Horizon League. The two programs paired up in conference play in 1993-94 in the Mid-Continent Conference and then from 2007-08 through 2016-17 in the Horizon League.
- Valpo renewed acquaintances with Loyola five days later - those two programs were both members of the Horizon League from 2007-08 through 2012-13 and then the Missouri Valley Conference from 2017-18 through 2021-22.
- The Beacons close nonconference play Saturday against Detroit Mercy, who they took on for the entirety of their decade in the Horizon League.

Ms. Jackson is For Real
- There has been no sophomore slump for Nevaeh Jackson so far this season.
- Through 10 games, Jackson is averaging 15.1 points/game - more than double her average from last season - on 47.5% shooting from the field and 38.2% shooting from deep.
- Jackson currently ranks third in the MVC with 2.6 3-pointers/game and seventh with 1.9 steals/game.
- After having a scoring high of 19 points as a rookie, Jackson already has three 20+ point games this season, highlighted by her 26-point effort last time out at Saint Louis, when she knocked down six 3-pointers;
 
Forcing Miscues
- Through 10 games this year, Valpo is averaging 20.0 turnovers forced/game, easily the most in the MVC. 
- The Beacons have forced more turnovers than they've committed in eight of 10 games and rank third in the Valley with a +2.60 turnover margin.
- Valpo has forced at least 20 turnovers in five games so far, highlighted by back-to-back games forcing 26 miscues in wins over Goshen and North Dakota.
- Against Goshen, the Beacons racked up 15 steals, a season high and the team's highest total in exactly one calendar year. The Beacons matched that mark in the win over Western Michigan as well.
- In the win over North Dakota, Valpo turned the Fighting Hawks' 26 turnovers into 33 points and held a massive 33-9 edge in points off turnovers. It was the program's greatest number of points off turnovers and the highest edge in the category since a Feb. 22, 2020 win at Loyola, when Valpo forced 31 turnovers and owns a 38-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

Hitting From Deep
- Valpo enjoyed its best game of the season from the 3-point line last time out, hitting a season-high 12 3-pointers and connecting at a season-best 48% clip from deep against Saint Louis.
- Per HerHoopStats.com, it was the first time Valpo had hit at least 45% from 3-point range against a nonconference opponent since going 11-for-23 from deep Nov. 17, 2018 in a win over St. Francis Brooklyn - in between, Valpo hit 45% or better from deep 15 times against conference opponents.
- The Beacons have connected on at least 10 triples three times this season.
- After averaging 7.3 3-pointers/game on .310 shooting from deep over the season's first six games, Valpo is averaging 9 3-pointers/game on .404 shooting over the last four games. 

Gold Standard
- Heading into the Western Michigan game, sophomore Layla Gold had tallied just 28 assists through the first 36 games of her career, with a career best of three helpers set in last year's MVC Tournament game versus UIC.
- Gold has outdone that mark in each of the last two games, however, as she handed out four assists in the win over WMU and then outdid herself Wednesday night with six assists at Saint Louis.
- Even more notably, Gold racked up those assist numbers without committing a turnover in either contest - since coughing the ball up in the opening seconds against North Dakota, Gold has played 123 minutes without committing a turnover.
- Per HerHoopStats.com, Gold is the only MVC player this season with multiple games with at least four assists and no turnovers, and is the first Valpo player with at least four assists and no turnovers in consecutive games since Hannah Schaub at Illinois and at Morehead State in November 2018.

20/20/20/20 Vision
- Ten games into the season, and Valpo already has four different players with six combined 20-point games under their belt.
- That is already more than last year's team, which featured just two different players with at least one 20-point effort.
- Most recently, Nevaeh Jackson zoomed past her previous career high with 26 points last time out at Saint Louis; this coming after 20-point performances earlier this year in the win over Goshen and against Purdue Fort Wayne.
- Leah Earnest hit the 20-point mark for the 11th time with the second-highest scoring output of her career, finishing with 29 points at Lehigh, and followed the very next outing with 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the win over Western Michigan.
- Sophomore Layla Gold shattered her previous career high of 11 points with a 23-point night - which included five 3-pointers - at Milwaukee.
- Against Trinity Christian, Kayla Preston smashed her previous best, going for 20 points on 7-10 FG and 6-8 FT.

All-Tournament Honors
- Valpo had a pair of players recognized as All-Tournament Team honorees following the conclusion of the Christmas City Classic.
- Leah Earnest averaged 23.5 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game over the Beacons' two contests.
- Katie Beyer earned her selection by virtue of a strong 16-point performance, surpassing her career high, in the win over North Dakota.

Zooming Up the Charts
- It took Leah Earnest just 26 hours to leapfrog from 13th to ninth on Valpo's career scoring chart over the Beacons' two games at the Christmas City Classic.
- Earnest enters Saturday's game with 1,262 career points, two shy of eighth, 11 shy of seventh and 14 shy of sixth in program history.
- Earnest sits in fifth place in program history in career rebounding with 720 boards, just three shy of fourth.
- The grad student is also tied for third all-time at Valpo with 123 games played, sixth with 273 free throws made and ninth with 455 field goals made.
- Earnest impacted the program's single-game record book as well at the Christmas City Classic as she went 12-for-12 at the foul line against Lehigh. She is one of just 12 players to hit 100% from the foul line in a game (minimum 10 attempts) and one of just four to do so on at least 12 tries.

Career Highs
- Five of Valpo's seven returnees have set career bests in the scoring column this season - the only returnees who haven't are Saniya Jackson, who is out for the season, and Earnest.
- Joining the trio who had their first career 20-point efforts are senior Katie Beyer and sophomore Raeven Raye-Redmond.
- Raye-Redmond smashed past her previous best of nine with a 15-point night on 6-of-9 shooting at Milwaukee.
- Beyer hit three 3-pointers on her way to a 14-point game in the season opener versus Liberty, and then against North Dakota, surpassed that again with a 16-point effort.

Notables From Goshen
- Goshen's high scorer had nine points - it was the first time a Valpo opponent has failed to have a double-digit scorer since Jan. 20, 2019 against Evansville.
- With 26 turnovers, the Maple Leafs were the first Valpo opponent with 25 or more miscues since March 11, 2021 against Evansville at the MVC Tournament.
- Goshen hit just 1-of-14 from 3-point range, the first time since Jan. 2, 2022 at Missouri State a Valpo opponent has shot under 10% from the 3-point line.

Notables From Trinity Christian
- Valpo surrendered just 40 points to Trinity Christian, the lowest mark by a Valpo team since giving up just 37 in a win over UIC Dec. 15, 2019.
- The 41-point margin of victory (81-40) was the program's largest since a 95-49 win over Chicago State Dec. 28, 2019.
- The Beacons dished out 25 assists on 29 made field goals, the program's highest single-game assist total since a 26-assist performance against Purdue Calumet Dec. 9, 1998.
- Valpo's 43 rebounds was the highest team single-game total since grabbing 44 against UAB Nov. 21, 2022.