Valparaiso (0-12, 0-1 MVC)
Game #13 - December 29, 2025 - 1 p.m.
UNI (5-6, 1-0 MVC)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: After a 12-day break from competition, the Valpo women's basketball team returns to the court for a Monday afternoon matinee as the Beacons kick off the bulk of their MVC slate with a visit from UNI.

Previously: Playing without its leading scorer, the Valpo women's basketball team dropped its nonconference finale to visiting Central Michigan, 91-41. The Beacons were led by 14 points from Allia von Schlegell.

Following Valpo Basketball: Video: ESPN+
Links for live coverage: Available via ValpoAthletics.com

Head Coach Courtney Boyd (0-12 at Valpo, 1st season; 190-80 [.704] overall, 9th season): Courtney Boyd was named the ninth head coach of the Valparaiso University women's basketball program on Friday, April 4, 2025. A national championship-winning head coach and player, an NAIA National Coach of the Year, and a two-time conference Coach of the Year, Boyd has won 20 or more games in seven of her first eight seasons as a head coach. She spent the last two seasons at the helm of the Quincy University program after six seasons as head coach at Clarke University, leading the latter program to the NAIA national title in 2022-23.

Series Notes: UNI leads the all-time series by a 16-5 margin and has won the last eight matchups between the two programs. Last season, the Panthers picked up a 93-70 win in Cedar Falls and an 85-73 win to close the regular season at the ARC.

@ValpoWBB...
...versus Central Michigan
- It was a struggle from the start for the Beacons, as their lone points of the opening quarter came on a coast-to-coast layup from Allia von Schlegell 3:30 into the game. CMU led 16-2 at the end of the first period.
The Chippewas extended their advantage throughout the second quarter, until a late 7-0 run for Valpo made it 44-19 game at halftime. von Schlegell knocked down a triple around layups from Kayla Sullivan and Kamryn Winch for the late spurt.
- CMU led 65-29 at the end of the third quarter.
Valpo played without the services of Fiona Connolly due to injury, and then lost Autumn Dibb to injury early in the second half.
- von Schlegell paced the Beacons with 14 points, including three 3-pointers. It is her sixth double-figure scoring effort of the season.
- Winch was Valpo's second-leading scorer, hitting 3-of-5 off the bench for seven points while also grabbing six rebounds.
- Mor Shabtai matched her career best and led the Beacons with nine rebounds, while also tallying three assists against just one turnover.
- Bella Swedlund knocked down the first field goal of her collegiate career.
- Valpo shot 25% from the floor and was just 4-for-31 from 3-point range, while CMU hit at a 51.5% clip from the field and was 6-of-17 from deep.

...at Western Michigan
- 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 knocked down two early triples, followed by a Mikayla Huffine 3-pointer, and when Allia 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 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 tied the game. A 3-pointer from Mor Shabtai 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.
- 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.
- 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.

...looking ahead
- The Beacons face the Indiana road swing later this week, traveling to Indiana State and Evansville.

...at the ARC
- Wednesday's game is the fifth of 13 home games this season for the Beacons, as Valpo hosts three nonconference games and 10 MVC games.
- The Beacons are currently 0-4 at the ARC this year.
- Valpo posted a 9-6 record at the ARC last season, the program's first winning record at home since the 2019-20 season.

....and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo is in its ninth season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- Valpo was picked outside the top-four of the MVC preseason poll, as the Valley released only the top four selections.
- The Valley finished last season ranked seventh in the NET, matching the conference's highest NET/RPI ranking in Valpo's time as an MVC member (2020-21).

...looking back at last year
- Valpo finished last season with a 13-19 overall record and went 9-11 in MVC play to finish in eighth place.
- Among the Beacons' 13 victories were a thrilling rally from a 20-point deficit for a home win over Drake which entered the game ranked 69th in NET, the program's highest-ranked win since a win over #54 UNI in 2021-22.
- Leah Earnest was tabbed a First Team All-MVC honoree as she concluded a decorated career that saw her finish first in program history in career rebounds and third in career scoring.
- The 2024-25 Beacons hit 245 3-pointers, third-most in a single season in program history, and tallied 314 steals, seventh on the program's single-season chart and the most since 2001-02.

@UNIwbb
- UNI comes into Monday's game with a 5-6 overall record, most recently earning a 58-40 win at St. Thomas on Dec. 21.
- The Panthers won their lone MVC game to date, a 68-54 home triumph over Illinois State.
- Ryley Goebel leads the Panthers, averaging 11.1 points/game for a balanced UNI offense - all five starters score at least eight points per game.

All For Allia
- Freshman Allia von Schlegell enters the heart of MVC play on a hot streak, as she has paced the Beacons in scoring in each of their last three games - including a 14-point effort last time out against Central Michigan.
- von Schlegell set and then matched her career high in the previous two games with 18 points against SIUE and at Western Michigan, leading all players in scoring in both games.
- von Schlegell scored in double figures six times in nonconference action, among the best in program history in terms of double-digit scoring outputs by a freshman in nonconference games since Valpo joined the North Star Conference for the 1987-88 season:
Dani Franklin, 2014-15, 11
Meredith Hamlet, 2015-16, 8
Tabitha Gerardot, 2010-11, 8
Sarrah Stricklett, 1996-97, at least 7 (2 boxes unavailable)
Debbie Bolen, 1989-90, at least 7 (1 box unavailable)
Jeanette Gray, 1999-2000, 7
Allia von Schlegell, 2025-26, 6
Stephanie Greer, 1987-88, 6
Amy Cole, 1987-88, 6
Linda Batz, 1987-88, 6
Ali Saunders, 2022-23, 5
Jamie Gutowski, 2002-03, 5
- Notably, the six players ahead of von Schlegell on that list all went on to earn All-Freshman/Newcomer Team honors and closed their time at Valpo among the top-12 in program history in career scoring.

Shifting Starters
- With Fiona Connolly missing the CMU game due to injury, Valpo used its sixth different starting lineup of the season last time out, as Kylie Waytashek was reinserted into the starting five.
- Eight different players have been a part of at least one starting five this year, with two of them - Mor Shabtai and Mikayla Huffine - starting every game.

Gimme Mor
- Sophomore guard Mor Shabtai had a career performance in the Beacons' MVC opener against UIC.
- Shabtai, who entered the game with career highs of 11 points and four rebounds, easily outdid that as she paced Valpo with 16 points and nine rebounds.
- She went 6-of-9 from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, to set new bests in field goals made and 3-pointers made.
- Shabtai is just the third Valpo player in the last six seasons to post at least 16 points, nine rebounds and three made 3-pointers in a single game, joining Leah Earnest (2x) and Shay Frederick.
- Shabtai matched that nine-rebound mark last time out against Central Michigan - that is the most rebounds by a player listed at 5-4 or shorter in program history.

Home Sweet Home
- After playing their first three games of the year and seven of their first eight away from home, the Beacons will enjoy their beds at home this month.
- Four of Valpo's five games in December are at the ARC, with its lone road game being Sunday's short trip to Kalamazoo to play at Western Michigan.
- Valpo will play its first two MVC games at home as part of this stretch, the first time it opens conference play with two home games since the 2020-21 season.

All-Tournament Honoree
- Fiona Connolly represented Valpo on the All-Tournament Team at the CSU Invitational, as she averaged 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game over the Beacons' trio of games in Cleveland.
- Connolly opened with her career-high 21 points and also tied for game-high honors with eight rebounds against Radford.
- She tied for game-high honors with 14 points versus Cleveland State, and closed the tournament with nine points and seven boards against St. Bonaventure.

The Tall and the Short
- This year's Valpo roster features recent extremes on both ends of the height spectrum.
- Mor Shabtai and Mikayla Huffine both are listed at 5-4, making them the shortest Valpo players since 5-3 Rashida Ray (2007-11).
- On the flip side, Kamryn Winch and Milana Nenadic both check in at 6-3, making them the tallest Valpo players since 6-5 Nicole Johanson (2018-19).

International Flavor
- Valpo has a trio of international players on its 2025-26 roster: sophomore Mor Shabtai (Israel) and transfers Milana Nenadic (Ontario, Canada) and Kennedy Sproule (Manitoba, Canada).
- Prior to Shabtai's arrival last year, the Valpo program hadn't had an international player since Sharon Karungi (Uganda) roamed the paint from 2013-15.

Sister Act
- For the third straight season, the Beacons have a pair of sisters on their roster, as freshman Nuala Connolly joins senior sister Fiona on this year's squad.
- The last two years featured identical twins Nevaeh and Saniya Jackson.
- Before that, the last set of sisters to suit up together in the Brown and Gold were the trio of Hamlet sisters: Annemarie (2013-16) overlapped with both older sister Elizabeth (2013-14) and younger sister Meredith (2015-19).