Valparaiso (0-8, 0-0 MVC)
Game #9 - December 7, 2025 - 3 p.m.
UIC (4-5, 0-0 MVC)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The month of December brings a bounty of home games for the Valpo women's basketball team, starting with the Beacons' Missouri Valley Conference opener Sunday afternoon as UIC comes to town.

Previously: Valpo dropped three games at the CSU Invitational over the Thanksgiving holiday. Fiona Connolly represented the Beacons on the All-Tournament Team.

Following Valpo Basketball: Video: ESPN+
Audio: WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso); TuneIn app
Links for live coverage: Available via ValpoAthletics.com

Head Coach Courtney Boyd (0-8 at Valpo, 1st season; 190-76 [.714] 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: Valpo renews acquaintances with the most common opponent in program history on Sunday afternoon, as the Beacons match up with UIC for the 59th time - the Flames hold a 32-26 edge in the series, including a 6-2 lead since UIC joined the Valley. The MVC marks the fourth different conference the two programs have shared affiliation in, as Valpo and UIC were both previously together in the North Star Conference (1988-92), the Mid-Continent Conference (1992-94) and the Horizon League (2007-17). Last season, the two teams split the season series, both winning on their respective home court - UIC 60-45 in Chicago, and Valpo 60-51 at the ARC.

@ValpoWBB...
...looking ahead
- Valpo returns to nonconference play next time out, hosting SIUE at the ARC Friday evening.
- The Beacons' lone road game in the month of December comes next Sunday, as they make the short trip to Western Michigan.

...at the ARC
- Sunday's game is the second of 13 home games this season for the Beacons, as Valpo will host three nonconference games and 10 MVC games.
- The Beacons are currently 0-1 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.

@UIC_WBB
- UIC comes into the ARC with a 4-5 record this season, having dropped each of its last two games by two points.
- Jessica Carrothers averages a team-best 17.2 points/game, but has missed the Flames' last three games.
- Julia Coleman averages 14.1 points/game on 50.5% shooting from the floor.

Conference Play Already
- For the first time in over a quarter century, Valpo will play a conference game in the midst of early-season action.
- The Mid-Continent Conference had a three-season stretch from 1997-2000 where it held an early December weekend of conference play.
- Valpo's earliest conference game on record came on Dec. 2, 1999 at Oral Roberts.
- The Valpo-UIC matchup Sunday will be the second MVC game of the season, as UNI defeated Illinois State on Wednesday evening.

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 a mere 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.

Winning on the Glass
- Over their three games at the CSU Invitational, the Beacons were a +5 in rebounding margin, including besting their opponent in a pair of games.
- Valpo held a 46-40 edge on the glass in the opener against Radford, and followed two days later by out-boarding Cleveland State, 41-37.
- The +6 edge against Radford was the program's best margin against a D-I opponent since finishing +10 on the glass at Bradley Feb. 15, 2024.
- It was also the first time Valpo has won the rebounding battle in consecutive games since that aforementioned Bradley game, which followed a positive effort on the glass against Evansville.

Career Bests
- Three Valpo players set D-I career highs in the scoring department over the Beacons' time at the CSU Invitational.
- In the tournament opener against Radford, Fiona Connolly dropped a game-high 21 points - the third time this season she has bested her career high.
- In that same game, Kennedy Sproule - who scored just three points over her first three games at Valpo - scored 11 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 3-of-6 from behind the 3-point line.
- In the Beacons' finale against St. Bonaventure, Kylie Waytashek easily passed her previous career best with an 18-point effort, hitting 8-of-11 from the floor. She outdid her previous high of 14, set last year against Trinity Christian, and more than doubled her previous high against a D-I opponent of seven, from earlier this season at DePaul.

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.

Changes to the Lineup
- While Milana Nenadic, Fiona Connolly, Mor Shabtai and Mikayla Huffine all started all three games at the CSU Invitational (the latter three having started every game this season), Valpo rolled out a different player in the fifth spot in all three games.
- Kylie Waytashek started the opener against Radford, making what was her sixth straight start.
- After starting the first two games of the season, Kamryn Winch returned to the lineup against Cleveland State.
- Finally, Allia von Schlegell earned her first career start in the tournament finale versus St. Bonaventure.

Close, But No Cigar
- Valpo was within one defensive stop of the first win of the Courtney Boyd era in its home opener before Milwaukee sent the game to overtime, where the Panthers eventually won.
- It was the fourth straight time the Beacons have lost a game which has been tied at the end of regulation.
- Valpo's last overtime win came at Evansville in February 2022.