The second quarter proved to be the difference for the Valpo women's basketball team on Saturday afternoon in Des Moines, Iowa, as despite playing right with host Drake for the other three quarters, a 12-point deficit in the second stanza proved to be too much to overcome in an 82-64 loss. Leah Earnest (Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH) moved into fifth place in program history in career scoring in the defeat.
 
How It Happened

• Valpo held Drake without a point for the opening three-plus minutes, jumping out to a 5-0 lead on a 3-pointer from Layla Gold (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) and an Earnest mid-range jumper.
• Drake scored the next five to tie the game, but Valpo successfully kept the Bulldogs from taking an outright lead for the vast majority of the opening period. On the other end, the Beacons had three separate opportunities with a three-point lead and the ball with a chance to again make it a two-possession game, but were unable to convert on any of them.
• The Bulldogs scored twice in the final 50 seconds of the opening period to lead 20-18 after the first 10 minutes.
• A coast-to-coast drive by Lexi Castator (Fort Wayne, Ind./Northrop) less than 90 seconds into the second quarter tied the game at 20-20. That proved to be Valpo's last point for over five minutes, however, as Drake went on a 12-0 run to push its lead into double figures.
• The Bulldogs led by as many as 16 late in the second quarter and took a 41-27 lead into halftime.
• 3-pointers from Maci Rhoades (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek [Radford]) and Mor Shabtai (Tel Aviv, Israel/Tichonet) within the first 2:30 of the second half brought Valpo back to within 10 points, but the Beacons were not able to get the deficit back to single digits and Drake led 62-46 with 10 minutes to play.
• Drake pushed its lead to as many as 27 in the fourth quarter before the Beacons closed the game strong for the final 18-point margin.

 
Inside the Game

• Saturday's game came against a Drake squad which entered the day #79 in the NCAA NET rankings, just barely outside the top-75 to make it a Quad 1 game on the road for the Beacons.
• Earnest paced Valpo with 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting, tying her career high for field goals made. She also surpassed her career best on the defensive end, coming up with four steals.
• It was Earnest's fourth consecutive 20-point game and her sixth of the season.
• With her final basket Saturday, Earnest pushed her career total to 1,351 points, passing Meredith Hamlet for fifth-most in program history. Next up for Earnest on that chart is the pursuit of Jeanette Gray in fourth position with 1,460 career points.
• Gold knocked down three 3-pointers on her way to 13 points, her fifth game scoring in double digits this season.
• Earnest and Gold were the only Beacons to score in double figures, though, as Fiona Connolly (South Burlington, Vt./Brewster Academy [La Salle]) tallied seven points — including 4-of-4 from the foul line — as the next-highest Valpo scorer.
• Rhoades connected on both of her 3-point attempts for six points and handed out three assists, while Castator came off the bench to record a team-best four rebounds.
• The Beacons posted solid shooting numbers on Saturday, hitting 41.8% from the floor and going 8-of-22 from deep, but were unable to slow down the Bulldogs on their attempts, as Drake finished at a 50.9% clip from the field and 12-of-28 from the 3-point line.
• Valpo did force 22 Drake turnovers, 13 of which were steals — the seventh time this year the MVC leaders in turnovers forced per game forced at least 20 miscues. But despite a +4 in the turnover margin department, Valpo was outscored by Drake in points off turnovers, 23-19.

 
Next Up
Valpo (5-9, 1-2) continues its challenging stretch of games away from home next weekend with the Valley's southern road swing. The weekend opens Friday evening with a game at Murray State.