The Valpo women's basketball team led for nearly the entire 40 minutes in an in-state showdown at Indiana State Thursday evening, as Nevaeh Jackson (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop) connected on a 3-pointer 13 seconds into the game and the Beacons never looked back on their way to a 73-54 victory over the Sycamores. Leah Earnest (Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH) had a monster night with 25 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and four assists — the first D-I player to post such a stat line since December 2022.
 
How It Happened

• Maci Rhoades (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek [Radford]) followed Jackson's early lead with a triple of her own on Valpo's second trip down the court for a quick 6-0 edge.
• Another 3-pointer by Rhoades gave the Beacons an 11-4 advantage at the halfway mark of the period.
• Earnest followed with seven points over Valpo's next four possessions, and a fast-break layup by Jackson off a steal forced a Sycamore timeout with the Beacons leading 20-8 and 2:47 remaining in the quarter.
• Valpo's lead was 22-14 at the conclusion of the opening 10 minutes.
• Indiana State hit a 3-pointer on its first possession of the second quarter, but the Beacons responded with seven straight — four points from Earnest, and yet another 3-pointer by Rhoades — to push its advantage to 29-17 with 6:57 to play in the half.
• Valpo was held scoreless over the next three-plus minutes, but allowed just four points to ISU over that same stretch.
• Jackson and Earnest broke the schneid with respective 3-pointers in a three-trip stretch, bumping the lead to 14 points. Valpo went into halftime leading 36-21.
• A pair of 3-pointers from Katie Beyer (McHenry, Ill./McHenry) gave the Beacons their largest advantage just before the midway mark of the third quarter, 46-28.
• Valpo's lead was still 17 points with 3:30 to play in the period, but the Sycamores ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to move within 51-43 with 10 minutes to play.
• A triple by Mor Shabtai (Tel Aviv, Israel/Tichonet) 1:42 into the fourth quarter was the first points for either squad in the final period and sparked a 10-1 Valpo run to extend the lead to 17 points. Indiana State got no closer than 15 the rest of the way.

 
Inside the Game

• The Beacons limited the Sycamores to 54 points and improved to 7-0 on the season when holding their opponent to 59 or fewer points.
• Valpo now owns a winning record against Indiana State in Terre Haute since joining the Valley, as Thursday's win was Valpo's fourth in seven road showdowns.
• Valpo never trailed on Thursday and led for 39:47 after Jackson's quick triple, but notably, that isn't the longest the program has led a game in Terre Haute. The 2019-20 team led the Sycamores in a road win for all 40 minutes, as an administrative technical foul gave Valpo two free throws before the opening tip.
• Thursday's win was the Beacons' first true road win of the year, as they entered the evening 0-9 in such contests.
• Valpo hit at a 47.3% clip from the field in the win while limiting ISU to 33.3% shooting.
• The Beacons hit 11-of-23 from deep, snapping a five-game stretch where they were hitting just 20.4% from 3-point range. The 47.8% clip from downtown was the team's second-best of the year, while it was the fourth time this year they have hit double digits in triples.
• Leading the Valley in turnovers forced, Valpo was right around its average Thursday, as it forced 19 Indiana State miscues. 11 of those were steals, the 10^th time this year the Beacons have racked up at least 10 thefts.
• Despite being just a +1 in the turnover margin department, Valpo held a 23-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
• Earnest's monster stat line led the stellar individual efforts on Thursday. The graduate student scored 25 points — her 18^th career game with 20 or more points — on 10-of-12 shooting, the best single-game shooting percentage on at least 10 attempts of her career.
• Earnest secured a team-best 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the year and the 20^th of her career, set a career best with six steals and tied for team-high honors with four assists as well.
• Earnest became the first D-I player to post 25 points, 10 rebounds, six steals and four assists in the same game since Missouri State's Aniya Thomas did so Dec. 31, 2022.
• Beyer had a strong effort off the bench with the second-highest scoring game of her career, as the senior poured in 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. She added five rebounds as well.
• Rhoades reached double figures for the fifth time this year as she hit a trio of 3-pointers on her way to 11 points, adding three assists and two steals.
• Shabtai connected on a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for six points, tied her season high for the second straight game with four rebounds and was one off her season best with four assists.

 
Next Up
Valpo (7-13, 3-6 MVC) looks to sweep the Indiana road trip on Saturday evening when the Beacons take on Evansville at 5 p.m.