The Valpo women's basketball team got off to a strong start Sunday afternoon in its final nonconference road game of the season, taking a double-figure lead over Western Michigan in the opening quarter, but the hosts battled back to down the Beacons, 58-48. Allia von Schlegell (Downers Grove, Ill./Nazareth Academy) tied her career high in scoring for a second straight game.
 
How It Happened

• Western Michigan knocked down a 3-pointer on its first possession, but the Beacon defense kept the Broncos off the board for the next eight-plus minutes.
• Meanwhile, Valpo was off to a scorching start from deep on the offensive end. Fiona Connolly (South Burlington, Vt./Brewster Academy [La Salle]) knocked down two early triples, followed by a Mikayla Huffine (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran [Quincy/Iowa Western C.C.]) 3-pointer, and when von Schlegell hit from downtown nearing the halfway mark of the opening quarter, WMU was forced to use a timeout with Valpo leading 12-3.
• The Beacons got their lead to double figures with 1:18 to play in the period on a midrange jumper from Milana Nenadic (Kitchener, Ontario/Cameron Heights [Idaho State/Maine]) before the Broncos scored the final four of the quarter to slice Valpo's advantage to 14-7.
• von Schlegell carried the Valpo offense in the first half of the second quarter, scoring the Beacons' first seven points of the quarter as the lead remained seven points at the halfway mark.
• A 7-2 spurt for WMU late in the quarter cut Valpo's lead to two points, but the Beacons kept hold of the lead and were up 31-28 at halftime.
• WMU opened the second half on a 6-1 run to take its first lead since the game's opening minute, forcing a Valpo timeout two minutes into the half trailing 34-32.
• The score stayed at 34-32 for over four minutes until a pull-up jumper from Autumn Dibb (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) tied the game. A 3-pointer from Mor Shabtai (Tel Aviv, Israel/Tichonet) put the Beacons in front with 2:13 to play in the third quarter, but the Broncos scored eight points on their final three possessions of the period to lead 42-39 with 10 minutes to play.
• von Schlegell brought Valpo back within one with a pair of free throws just nine seconds into the fourth quarter before WMU went on a 9-0 run over the next three-plus minutes to extend its lead to double figures at 51-41.
• Another strong stretch for the Beacon defense kept WMU from putting a point on the board for over four minutes, but the Beacons scored just four points of their own over that stretch and got no closer than six in the late stages.

 
Inside the Game

• For the second time in less than 48 hours, von Schlegell matched her career high and led all players, scoring 18 points. The freshman hit a trio of 3-pointers and went 7-of-8 from the foul line in her fifth double-digit scoring effort of the season.
• Connolly scored in double figures for the eighth time this year, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
• Nenadic set a career high with 10 rebounds, while Dibb posted a career-best four assists.
• Dibb made her first collegiate start Sunday as the Beacons deployed their fifth different starting unit this season.
• The 58 points WMU scored marked a season low by a Valpo opponent. The Broncos hit just 35.1% from the floor and were 5-of-19 from 3-point range.
• The Beacons finished the afternoon 14-of-47 (29.8%) from the field. After starting the game 4-for-4 from deep, Valpo hit just three of its last 20 3-point attempts.

 
Next Up
Valpo (0-11) closes nonconference play at the ARC Wednesday evening as the Beacons host Central Michigan at 6 p.m.