The Valpo women's basketball team went into halftime in its season opener at DePaul Tuesday evening trailing by just six points, but the host Blue Demons pulled away in the second half for a 92-54 victory.
 
How It Happened

• DePaul started the game scoring five straight points, but the Beacons bounced back immediately, taking an 8-6 lead just over three minutes into the game thanks to five early points from Mor Shabtai (Tel Aviv, Israel/Tichonet) and a 3-pointer by Kayla Sullivan (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran North [State Fair C.C.]).
• The Blue Demons scored eight points in a row over a three-possession span to go up 14-8 approaching the halfway mark of the opening period. Valpo righted the ship for the rest of the quarter, and while the Beacons didn't regain the lead, their deficit was only 22-20 at the end of the first.
• DePaul reeled off nine straight points over the opening 2:30 of the second quarter to extend its lead to double figures. The Beacons again erased nearly the entirety of that lead, however, with a 3-pointer from Allia von Schlegell (Downers Grove, Ill./Nazareth Academy) sparking an 8-0 run which also featured four points from Fiona Connolly (South Burlington, Vt./Brewster Academy [La Salle]) to close to within 33-30 with 2:48 to play in the half.
• The Blue Demons eventually carried a 38-32 lead into the locker room at halftime.
• DePaul scored eight points within one minute on its first three trips of the third quarter to push its lead to 46-32. The margin remained right around that 14-point mark for most of the period, until the Blue Demons scored the final eight points of the period to make it 63-41 with 10 minutes to play.
• While the Beacons scored on each of their first three trips of the fourth quarter, DePaul connected on its first six shots of period to prevent Valpo from cutting into the lead.

 
Inside the Game

• The game was the first at the helm of the Valpo program for head coach Courtney Boyd.
• Two of the Beacons' returnees set career bests in the scoring column Tuesday. Connolly paced Valpo with a career-best 12 points, while Shabtai tallied a career-high eight points.
• In her second season with the program, Kylie Waytashek (Royalton, Minn./Royalton) made her first career start.
• Eight of Valpo's newcomers saw action in the season's first game Tuesday, with Mikayla Huffine (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran [Quincy/Iowa Western C.C.]) and Kamryn Winch (Bonne Terre, Mo./North County [Maryville]) debuting in the starting five.
• Winch paced the Beacons with 11 rebounds, while fellow post Milana Nenadic (Kitchener, Ontario/Cameron Heights [Idaho State/Maine]) came off the bench with eight points and six rebounds.
• Three true freshmen made their collegiate debuts against the Blue Demons — von Schlegell knocked down a pair of 3-pointers, Autumn Dibb (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) was a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul line and Isabella Anderson (Milbank, S.D./Milbank) delivered a pair of assists.
• Valpo shot just 36.7% (18-of-49) from the field Tuesday, while DePaul hit at a 44.3% (39-of-88) clip. The Blue Demons grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and were a +25 in the turnover department, committing just 10 miscues while forcing 35 Valpo turnovers.

 
Next Up
Valpo (0-1) continues its three-game road swing to open the regular season as it heads to Detroit Mercy Saturday. Tipoff is slated for noon CT.