Valparaiso (5-7, 1-0 MVC)
Game #13 - January 2, 2025 - 6 p.m.
at UNI (6-6, 1-0 MVC)
McLeod Center (6,650) - Cedar Falls, Iowa

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: Coming off a conference-opening win last Saturday, the Valpo women's basketball team takes the court for the first time in 2025 as it begins a stretch of four consecutive road games Thursday evening at UNI. The challenging next two weekends feature four road contests against teams in the top-100 of the NET.

Previously: Valpo put together one of its best defensive performances of the year to open Missouri Valley Conference with a 1-0 record, as the Beacons led for the final 35 minutes of a 69-51 win at the ARC over Southern Illinois. Leah Earnest led three Beacons in double figures offensively with 22 points and added 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the year.

Following Valpo Basketball: Video: ESPN+
Links for live coverage: Available via ValpoAthletics.com

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 65-123. 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: UNI leads the all-time series by a 14-5 margin and is 7-1 all-time against Valpo in Cedar Falls. Last season, the Panthers won 76-52 at the ARC (Saniya Jackson tied for game-high honors with 16 points) and 78-59 in Cedar Falls (Saniya Jackson 14 points, 9 rebounds, 4 steals; Leah Earnest 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists).

@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.

...versus Southern Illinois
- An 11-0 run midway through the first quarter propelled Valpo to a 21-15 lead at the end of the opening period.
- After SIU cut the Beacons' lead to 26-25 midway through the second period, Valpo scored the next nine points on its way to a 36-26 halftime lead.
- A quick 7-0 spurt just past the midway point of the third quarter pushed Valpo's advantage to 18 points, and the Beacons led 58-41 with 10 minutes to play.
- The decisive lead proved quite handy in the fourth quarter, as the Beacons opened the final period with 12 consecutive empty possessions. SIU scored on four of its five trips on the offensive end to close to within 58-49 with 7:44 to play and force a Valpo timeout.
- While the Beacons were still dealing with their drought on the offensive end, their defense stepped up, limiting the Salukis to just two free throws over the next four minutes to maintain some breathing room.
- Layla Gold finally snapped the offensive skid with a driving layup with 3:23 remaining, and Nevaeh Jackson followed with a drive and finish of her own on the next possession to make it 62-51 and force an SIU timeout with 2:45 to go.
- The Beacons did not give up a point the rest of the way, closing out the game on an 11-0 run and holding the Salukis without a field goal over the final 7:44 and without a point over the final 5:05.
- The victory was Valpo's fifth in 14 all-time meetings against SIU, snapping a three-game winning streak by the Salukis. The 18-point margin of victory was Valpo's largest in the series.
- The Beacons held the Salukis to 19-of-60 shooting from the field Sunday, the 31.7% field goal percentage the lowest mark by a Valpo D-I opponent this season.
- Meanwhile, on the offensive end, Valpo hit at a 46.5% clip from the field and was 9-of-20 from deep. The Beacons' 45% mark from 3-point range was their second-best of the season — they have now hit at least 40% from 3-point range in four of the last six games.
- Valpo took advantage of its trips to the foul line as well Sunday, finishing 20-of-24 from the charity stripe — the 83.3% free throw percentage the team's second-best of the season.
- Leah Earnest finished with 22 points, including a 10-of-12 mark from the foul line, and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. It was her third 20-point double-double of the year, tied for the most among MVC players.
- Jackson backed Earnest up with an 18-point effort, including a 4-of-7 mark from the 3-point line. The sophomore scored in double figures for the ninth time this year and hit at least four triples for the fourth time.

...versus Detroit Mercy
- Valpo led by as many as five points in the fourth quarter before UDM rallied to tie the game with 3:07 to play.
- The Beacons forced a jump ball on the defensive end to regain possession in a tie game with less than 15 seconds remaining.
- Valpo was able to get a clean look for one of their top threats from downtown, but Maci Rhoades' shot from the left corner dipped inside the cylinder for a moment before spinning up and out to send the game to overtime.
- A 3-pointer from Layla Gold with 43 seconds to play in the first overtime put Valpo on top, 67-65.
- The Titans got an inside basket nine seconds later to tie the game. UDM had the final shot after forcing a Valpo turnover, but the defense forced a tough, contested deep jumper which was off the mark.
- The first 75 seconds of the second extra period all but decided the game, as Valpo had three consecutive empty possessions and UDM scored on each of its first three trips, forcing a timeout from the Beacons trailing 73-67 with 3:44 to go. Valpo got no closer than four the rest of the way.
- The Beacons never led in the first half, as UDM opened the game on a 13-3 run over the opening seven-plus minutes. Valpo did rally to within four at the end of the first quarter and was down just 27-25 at intermission.
- Valpo took its first lead of the game on a Rhoades triple less than 30 seconds into a tightly contested third quarter, which saw the Beacons ahead 48-47 with 10 minutes to play in regulation.
- The loss came against a Detroit Mercy team which is now 8-2 on the season, with its only losses coming at the hands of Michigan and Michigan State.
- It was Valpo's first double-overtime game since falling at the ARC to Southern Illinois in 50 minutes on Feb. 26, 2018. These are the program's only two multiple-overtime games since 2006.
- Leah Earnest and Gold both cracked the 20-point mark on Saturday, the first time Valpo has had two 20-point scorers in the same game since Olivia Brown posted 23 points and Earnest scored 21 last December against Chicago State.
- Earnest paced the Beacons with 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, matching her career high for field goals made. It was the 13th effort of 20 or more points of her career.
- Meanwhile, Gold finished with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor for her second effort of at least 20 points this season. The sophomore also blocked a game-high five shots, just one off her career best.
- Coming off their best shooting game of the season from the 3-point line, the Beacons were just 8-of-30 (26.7%) from deep. Valpo shot at a 39.1% clip overall versus the Titans' 44.6% clip from the floor and 33.3% from the 3-point line.

...looking ahead
- The back half of the Iowa road swing awaits Saturday afternoon when the Beacons take the floor at Drake.
- The journey to Murray State and Belmont awaits next weekend.

...away from home
- Thursday's game is Valpo's seventh contest of the year away from home.
- The Beacons are still in search of their first true road win, as they sit at 0-4 in true road games.
- Valpo is also 1-1 in neutral site games.

@UNIwbb
- The Panthers enter Thursday's game at 6-6 overall this year and 1-0 in Valley play after opening the conference slate with a 75-65 win at Indiana State on Sunday.
- UNI counts a pair of Power Four wins among its six victories, as it earned a signature in-state win over then-#8 Iowa State and a neutral-site victory over Pitt.
- Maya McDermott leads all MVC players and ranks seventh nationally with 22.2 points/game, while Kayba Laube ranks second nationally with a 53.7% 3-point percentage.

Going For 2-0
- Valpo started MVC play with a victory this year for just the second time in eight seasons as a Valley member.
- This year's Beacon squad joins the 2020-21 team, which opened with a 63-56 victory over UNI, as the only Valpo teams to begin MVC play 1-0.
- Notably, those two seasons were the only two of Valpo's eight in the conference where it opened at the ARC.
- Should the Beacons get a win on Thursday, they would be 2-0 in league play for the first time since 2007-08, when Valpo opened its first season in the Horizon League with wins over Butler and at UIC.

Quad Talk
- The next two weeks bring a number of challenges for the Beacons, as they face the Valley's two toughest road swings on back-to-back weekends.
- All four games over the next two weekends are against teams in the top-85 of the NET (UNI-75; Drake-84; Murray State-53; Belmont-50).
- Based on the quadrant system, the UNI, Murray State and Belmont games will be Quad 1 games, while the game at Drake will be a Quad 2 game.
- To date, Valpo has played no Quad 1 games and just one Quad 2 game (at Lehigh-100).
 
Forcing Miscues
- Through 12 games this year, Valpo is averaging 20.5 turnovers forced/game, easily the most in the MVC. 
- The Beacons have forced more turnovers than they've committed in eight of 12 games and rank fourth in the Valley with a +1.92 turnover margin.
- Valpo also leads the MVC with 10.3 steals/game and has tallied double-figure steals in seven games this year, including six of the last eight.
- Valpo has forced at least 20 turnovers in six games so far, highlighted by 29 forced turnovers against Detroit Mercy and 26 in back-to-back 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.

A Defensive Win
- While the Beacons forced "only" 17 turnovers last time out in the win over SIU - the third-lowest mark by a Valpo opponent this season - they more than made up for it with their shooting defense.
- Valpo held the Salukis to 31.7% shooting from the field, the lowest mark by a D-I opponent this season.
- Valpo also limited SIU to 1-of-14 shooting from the 3-point line, matching the line the Beacons limited Goshen to from deep earlier this year. It was the best defensive 3-point percentage by Valpo against a D-I opponent since holding Purdue to 0-of-15 from deep in the win over the Boilermakers Dec. 6, 2020.

20/20/20/20 Vision
- 12 games into the season, and Valpo already has four different players with nine combined 20-point games under their belt.
- That is already more players and as many 20-point games as last year's team, which featured just two different players who combined for nine 20-point efforts.
- Leah Earnest has four such efforts: 22 points last time out in the win over SIU, 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting versus Detroit Mercy, 23 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the win over Western Michigan and 29 points - the second-highest output of her career - at Lehigh.
- Earnest has scored 20 or more points 14 times in her collegiate career.
- Gold joined Earnest in crossing the 20-point mark versus UDM, finishing with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Earlier this year, Gold more than doubled her previous career best of 11 points with a 23-point night - which included five 3-pointers - at Milwaukee.
- Nevaeh Jackson zoomed past her previous career high with 26 points at Saint Louis; this coming after 20-point performances earlier in the season in the win over Goshen and against Purdue Fort Wayne.
- Against Trinity Christian, Kayla Preston smashed her previous best, going for 20 points on 7-10 FG and 6-8 FT.

Zooming Up the Charts
- Leah Earnest entered the season 14th in program history in career scoring, but has jumped all the way up to sixth all-time at Valpo with 1,308 career points.
- Against Detroit Mercy, Earnest leapfrogged three spots from ninth to sixth, surpassing Shay Frederick, Amber Schober and Betsy Rietema within the same game.
- Next up for Earnest is Meredith Hamlet in fifth position with 1,350 career points.
- Earnest also continued her match up the career rebounding chart against UDM as well, moving past Tabitha Gerardot for fourth on the program's career rebounding chart. She finished the SIU win with 739 boards - next up there is Jeanette Gray in third position with 766 career boards.
- Earnest is also second all-time at Valpo with 125 games played (16 shy of Caitlin Morrison for the program record), fourth with 285 free throws made (moved up two spots versus SIU, 56 shy of third) and eighth with 470 field goals made (one shy of seventh).
- 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.

No Sophomore Slump
- After ranking fourth on the team in scoring (7.2 points/game) as a rookie, sophomore Nevaeh Jackson has cemented herself as a consistent second scorer this season.
- Jackson has more than doubled her scoring average, entering Thursday's game second on the team with 14.5 points/game.
- Jackson has scored in double figures in nine of 12 games, highlighted by her 26-point effort at Saint Louis.
- Jackson has improved her 2-point percentage by 119 points (.440 as a freshman, .559 to date this season) and her 3-point percentage by 43 points (.317 as a freshman, .360 to date this season) - the latter improvement coming with an increased volume of three more attempts per game from deep.

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.

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.

Leah's Last Ride
- Graduate student Leah Earnest is back for her fifth and final season of eligibility, looking to put a bow on one of the most productive careers in program history.
- Earnest was a Second Team All-MVC selection last season and tabbed a preseason Second Team All-MVC choice this year.
- Earnest became the first Valpo player since 1991-92 to pace the team in scoring, rebounding and assists. 
- She ranked sixth in the Valley in scoring and eighth in rebounding, one of only four Valley players to rank in the top-eight of both categories. 
- Earnest scored 494 points on the season, fifth-most in a single season in program history and second-most since 1994.
- Should she duplicate her season totals from last year, Earnest would close her career third all-time at Valpo in scoring and second in rebounding.