Valparaiso (6-13, 2-6 MVC)
Game #20 - January 30, 2025 - 6 p.m. CT
at Indiana State (3-16, 1-7 MVC)
Hulman Center (9,000) - Terre Haute, Ind.

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The road life continues for the Valpo women's basketball team this week as the Beacons start the in-state swing on Thursday evening at Indiana State.

Previously: Valpo's return to the road was an unkind one Sunday afternoon in Chicago, as the Beacons dropped a 60-45 decision to host UIC. Leah Earnest moved into second place in program history in career rebounding during the game.

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 66-129. 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: Indiana State leads the all-time series with Valpo by a 12-7 count, including wins in each of the two meetings between the programs last season. In Terre Haute, Valpo led by four at intermission before Indiana State pulled away for a 70-49 victory - Leah Earnest scored a game-high 18 points in that contest. In the return meeting at Valpo, the Beacons erased nearly the entirety of a 15-point fourth quarter deficit, but were unable to complete the comeback, falling 70-65.

@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 UIC
- Valpo jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but UIC claimed the lead for good with 4:10 to play in the opening quarter and led 18-14 at the end of the period.
- Leah Earnest brought the Beacons back to within two with a basket on the opening trip of the second period before the Flames scored the next five to extend their lead.
- UIC scored five points in the final minute of the first half to push its edge to 33-22 at intermission.
- Valpo got to within eight points on a 3-pointer from Nevaeh Jackson just over three minutes into the third quarter, but the Flames scored seven of the next nine points to push their lead back into double figures.
- UIC led 50-37 at the end of the third quarter and the Beacons were unable to get any closer in the final 10 minutes.
- Earnest scored 12 points, while Jackson scored a team-best 14 on 5-of-9 shooting — those two were the only Beacons to crack double figures in scoring.
- Valpo's 45 points tied its season low (at Murray State). The Beacons matched their season low with four made 3-pointers and attempted just four free throws, their lowest total since trying just two Dec. 5, 2021 at Bowling Green.
- Valpo had its second-worst turnover margin of the season as well, forcing just 14 miscues while committing 22 turnovers.

...versus Bradley
- Valpo held Bradley without a point for a stretch of over five minutes within the first quarter, part of a bigger stretch during which the Beacons went on a 13-2 run — including six points from Leah Earnest — on their way to a 17-9 lead at the end of the first.
- The Beacons scored just eight points in the second quarter, but the defense was just as stifling, limiting Bradley to 3-of-15 shooting for the period as Valpo went into halftime with a 25-17 lead.
- Bradley scored the first three points of the second half to move within five, but Valpo had an immediate answer, as Nevaeh Jackson hit a 3-pointer before Earnest converted a fast-break layup and hit a triple of her own to push the edge back to 33-22 just 90 seconds later.
- Valpo's lead hovered on either side of the 10-point mark for the remainder of the third quarter, and the Beacons led 39-31 with 10 minutes to play.
- The Beacons successfully kept Bradley's runs at bay in the final period, as the Braves got no closer than five points.
- The win was Valpo's seventh consecutive over Bradley dating back to the start of the 2021-22 campaign, with five of those victories coming by single digits.
- The Beacons' defense led the way Sunday, as Valpo limited Bradley to 30.5% shooting from the field — the lowest mark by a Valpo D-I opponent this season. The Beacons also sent the Braves to the foul line just 11 times and forced 19 turnovers.
- On the offensive end, Valpo was limited to just 59 points on 36.0% shooting from the floor and 4-of-15 from 3-point range. It was just the program's fifth win in the seven-year tenure of head coach Mary Evans when scoring less than 60 points.
- The four made triples are tied for second-fewest in a victory in Evans' tenure as well.
- Valpo did strong work from the free throw line, finishing 19-of-22 at the stripe, including 9-of-10 in the fourth quarter. The 86.4% clip from the charity stripe matched the Beacons' best of the year, as they hit the same mark at Lehigh as well.
- Earnest scored nearly half of the Beacons' points, finishing with 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field and 6-of-6 from the foul line. The 27 points is the third-highest effort of her career, while the 10 made field goals are tied for a career best.
- Jackson connected on a trio of 3-pointers on her way to 11 points and finished the afternoon with her first career double-double, as the sophomore set a career best with a team-high 11 rebounds.
- Valpo held a 40-35 advantage on the glass over Bradley, with the Beacons' 40 boards marking their most since Jan. 28, 2024 at Evansville. The Beacons also outscored Bradley in the paint, 28-16 — the second consecutive game they have held a double-digit advantage in the paint.

...looking ahead
- Valpo closes out the first half of Valley play at Evansville Saturday evening.
- The Beacons return home to the ARC next weekend, hosting Belmont and Murray State.

...away from home
- Thursday's game is Valpo's 12th contest of the year away from home.
- The Beacons are still in search of their first true road win, as they sit at 0-9 in true road games.
- Valpo is also 1-1 in neutral site games.

@IndStWBB
- Indiana State comes into Thursday's game at 3-16 overall this year and at 1-7 in Valley play.
- The Sycamores have lost four straight since picking up a conference win over Evansville, most recently falling 88-58 at Belmont.
- Three ISU players average double figures in the scoring department, led by 14.2 points/game from Bella Finnegan.

Hoosier State Fun
- The Indiana State/Evansville swing has been the kindest road trip for Valpo since its move to the Missouri Valley Conference.
- Since joining the Valley prior to the 2017-18 season, Valpo is 3-3 in Terre Haute against Indiana State and is 5-1 at Evansville.
- Valpo swept the road trip in 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23.
- Notably, despite owning an 8-4 record against the two programs in road games since joining the MVC, Valpo is just 6-8 against its in-state foes when playing them at home.

The Wheels on the Bus
- You can forgive members of the Valpo program if they don't want to hear the words "bus", "road trip" or "itinerary", among others, for a while after this weekend.
- This weekend's trek to Indiana State and Evansville marks the fourth weekend out of the last five on the road for the Beacons.
- At the halfway point of the Valley slate (following the Evansville gmae), Valpo will have played seven of its 10 games on the road.
- After this trip, five of the Beacons' next six games over the next three weeks are at home.

Winning With Defense
- Strong defensive efforts have been a common thread in the Beacons' victories this season, and the triumph over Bradley was no different.
- Valpo allowed Bradley to shoot just 30.5% from the field - the lowest mark by a Valpo D-I opponent this year and the second lowest by a D-I opponent over the last three seasons.
- The Braves scored in single digits in each of the first two quarters and had just 17 points at intermission - the lowest mark by a Valpo D-I opponent at halftime since the Beacons went on the road and limited South Dakota to 17 first-half points on Dec. 10, 2021.
- It's actually been quite simple if you look at it: when the Beacons have held their opponent under 60 points this year, they are 6-0; when Valpo's opponent scores at least 60 points, the Beacons are 0-13.

Search for the Shooting Touch
- Valpo has suffered through some shooting woes the last three weekends, a marked departure from the previous month and a half.
- Over the last five games, the Beacons are averaging just 4.4 made 3-pointers/game and hitting at just a .204 clip from 3-point range.
- The last four efforts from deep come after an eight-game stretch during which Valpo hit at a .376 clip from 3-point range and averaged 8.5 3-pointers made per game.
- The Beacons shot at better than a 40% clip from 3-point range in four of the eight games in that stretch.
 
Forcing Miscues
- The Beacons rank as the MVC's best at forcing miscues, averaging 19.6 turnovers forced/game.
- The Beacons have forced more turnovers than they've committed in 12 of 19 games.
- Valpo also ranks second in the MVC with 9.5 steals/game and has tallied double-figure steals in nine games this year.
- Valpo has forced at least 20 turnovers in eight 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.

Zooming Up the Charts
- Leah Earnest entered the season 14th in program history in career scoring, but has jumped all the way up to fifth all-time at Valpo with 1,415 career points.
- Earnest moved up from sixth to fifth at Drake with her final basket of the game, surpassing Meredith Hamlet and her 1,350 points.
- Next up for Earnest is Jeanette Gray in fourth with 1,460 career points.
- Earnest continued her match up the career rebounding chart last time out at UIC, moving past Sarrah Stricklett into second on the program's career rebounding chart. She finished the game with 775 boards - 95 boards shy of Tamra Braun's program record of 880.
- Earnest is also second all-time at Valpo with 132 games played (9 shy of Caitlin Morrison for the program record), fourth with 305 free throws made (36 shy of third) and fourth with 510 field goals made (85 shy of third).
- 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.

20/20/20/20 Vision
- Valpo has four different players with 12 combined 20-point games under their belt this season.
- That is already more players and more 20-point games as last year's team, which featured just two different players who combined for nine 20-point efforts.
- Leah Earnest has seven such efforts: 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting in the win over Bradley, 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting at Drake, a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting at UNI, 22 points 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 scored 20+ in four consecutive games Dec. 21-Jan. 4, the first Valpo player to do so in at least 15 years - the last time a Valpo player had scored 20+ in even three straight games was Shay Frederick in the 2020-21 campaign.
- Layla 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 raced 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.

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 nearly doubled her scoring average, entering Thursday's game second on the team with 13.1 points/game.
- Jackson has scored in double figures in 14 of 19 games, highlighted by her 26-point effort at Saint Louis.

Gold Standard
- After averaging just 3.4 points/game as a freshman last year, sophomore Layla Gold has taken a significant step forward this year as well.
- Gold ranks third on the team with 8.3 points/game and is second on the team in 3-point percentage.
- Gold has scored in double figures seven times this year after having a season high of nine points last season.

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.

Missing Pieces
- Valpo is down two starters for the remainder of the season due to injury.
- Saniya Jackson did not see any game action this year, undergoing successful knee surgery in early November.
- Raeven Raye-Redmond suffered a lower leg injury late in regulation Dec. 21 against Detroit Mercy and will miss the rest of the year as well.