Valparaiso (12-17, 8-10 MVC)
Game #30 - March 6, 2025 - 6 p.m.
Drake (20-9, 14-4 MVC)
Athletics-Recreation Center (5,000) - Valparaiso, Ind.

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The regular season winds down for the Valpo women's basketball team this week, as the Beacons close out the campaign at the ARC for a pair of games. First up on Thursday is a matchup against a Drake squad which enters the week tied atop the Valley standings.

Previously: Valpo was within four points of host Illinois State at halftime Saturday afternoon in Normal, Ill., but the Redbirds pulled away in the second half for a 90-68 victory. Nevaeh Jackson paced the Beacons with 21 points, while Leah Earnest broke the program's career games played record when she took the court Saturday.

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

Head Coach Mary Evans: Mary Evans is in her seventh year at the helm of the program in 2024-25 and owns a record of 72-133. Evans' first six seasons at the helm have seen Valpo's six of the top-eight single-season 3-pointers made marks, including each of the top five, while defensively, her teams have racked up steals at a high rate, averaging at least 7.7 steals/game in five of her six seasons. Under her guidance, Valpo players have earned an MVC Sixth Player of the Year honor, five All-Conference accolades, three All-Freshman/Newcomer Team awards and three All-Defensive Team honors.

Series Notes: Drake leads the all-time series 18-2 and has won the last five meetings in the series. In the first meeting this season in Des Moines, a 21-9 second quarter proved to be the difference as the Bulldogs earned an 82-64 victory. Leah Earnest scored 22 points on 10-of-17 shooting in the defeat, while Layla Gold added 13 points.

@ValpoWBB...
...and @ValleyHoops
- Valpo was picked to finish in eighth place in the MVC preseason poll, totaling 193 points to edge out Indiana State.
- The eighth-place projection is two spots ahead of the Beacons' regular-season finish last year.
- Valpo is in its eighth season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.
- The Valley was ranked 13th in conference NET last season. In Valpo's time in the MVC, the conference has been ranked as high as seventh in NET (2020-21).

...looking back at last year
- Valpo finished last season with a 5-25 overall record and finished at 4-16 in MVC play, good for 10th in the Valley standings.
- Leah Earnest was a Second Team All-MVC honoree. 
- Valpo won three consecutive road games in Valley play, the second straight year the Beacons have accomplished that - prior to that, the program had last accomplished that feat against three different opponents since 2007.

...at Illinois State
- A 17-2 run gave ISU a double-digit lead in the first quarter. Nevaeh Jackson scored seven straight points to cut the Redbird lead to four, and Valpo trailed 21-15 at the end of the opening period.
- The Beacons scored the first five points of the second period to move within one point, but were unable to pull back in front as Illinois State scored the next five.
- The Redbirds' advantage hovered right on either side of the five-point mark for the remainder of the first half, and Valpo trailed 39-35 at intermission.
- Valpo answered an Illinois State basket with a Maci Rhoades 3-pointer to open the third quarter, making it a one-possession game at 41-38. But Illinois State hit 3-pointers on three straight trips to quickly go up 50-38, forcing a Valpo timeout with 7:14 to play in the period.
- The Beacons were unable to cut the deficit back to single digits, as the Redbirds led 65-46 at the end of the third period on their way to the win.
- Jackson paced Valpo for the second straight game, finishing with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting — including four 3-pointers — to surpass the 20-point mark in consecutive games for the first time in her collegiate career.
- Jackson also notched four assists and four steals, the latter tying her season best in the category.
- Leah Earnest finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists, the last mark matching her career best.
- Valpo tallied 17 assists, one off its season best, on 26 made baskets. 10 of the Beacons' baskets were triples, the seventh time this season they have hit 10 or more 3-pointers.
- The Beacons also committed just 10 turnovers Saturday, the program's lowest total since committing just eight miscues against Bradley Jan. 29, 2023. Valpo was a +7 in the turnover margin department.
- Illinois State hurt the Beacons on the offensive end, knocking down 13 3-pointers — tied for the most in a game this season by a Valpo opponent. The Redbirds hit at a 54.7% clip overall from the field.

...at Bradley
- Valpo led by 16 entering the fourth quarter before the Braves put together a 14-5 run over the opening half of the period to close to within 58-51.
- Nevaeh Jackson had an acrobatic 3-point play to briefly restore the double-digit lead, but Bradley split a pair of free throws on its next possession and proceeded to hit 3-pointers on each of its next three possessions to tie the game at 61-61 with 1:38 remaining.
- Maci Rhoades split a pair of free throws to give Valpo the lead back with 1:24 to play. The Beacons came up with a subsequent steal on the defensive end, but following a timeout, an inbounding violation returned possession to Bradley and the Braves took advantage, hitting yet another triple with 42 seconds left to take a 64-62 lead.
- Jackson was fouled on the floor while Valpo was in the bonus on the offensive end and split her free throws to halve the deficit, but with the shot clock off, the Beacons were forced to foul on the other end and did so with 21 seconds to play. 
- Bradley missed both its free throws and Leah Earnest secured the rebound off the second miss, setting up her game-winning 3-pointer with 6.4 seconds to play. Bradley's last-second heave from 35 feet was off the mark, allowing the Beacons to leave Peoria victorious.
- Until the fourth quarter, the game was all Valpo. The Beacons jumped out to a 21-12 lead after the opening 10 minutes, hitting 9-of-13 from the field in the first quarter.
- Valpo led by as many as 16 points late in the second quarter and went into halftime with a 35-22 lead after holding the Braves to just 2-of-13 shooting from the field for the period.
- An 8-0 run midway through the third quarter gave the Beacons their largest lead of the game at 53-32. Bradley scored the final five points of the quarter to make it a 16-point game entering the fourth period.
- Thursday's win was the program's eighth straight over Bradley over the last four seasons. That is Valpo's longest active streak against a single opponent, and the program's longest winning streak against a conference foe since defeating Centenary in all eight meetings as Mid-Continent Conference opponents in the mid-2000's.
- While Earnest had the final shot, the performance of Jackson set the Beacons up for Thursday's win. The sophomore was one point off her career high with her fourth 20-point game of the year, finishing with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
- Earnest battled through a tough shooting night to finish with 13 points and lead the Beacons with eight rebounds while also tallying three steals.
- Valpo limited the Braves to 30% shooting from the field through the game's first three quarters before Bradley hit 8-of-10 from the field — including five 3-pointers — over the final 10 minutes.

...looking ahead
- The Beacons close the regular season at home Saturday afternoon against UNI.
- The Credit Union 1 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament opens next Thursday at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

...at the ARC
- Thursday's game is the 14th of 15 home games this season for the Beacons, as Valpo hosted five nonconference games in addition to its 10 MVC home games.
- Valpo is 8-5 at the ARC this season and has won its last three home games.
- This season is the first time the program will finish with a winning record at home since 2019-20.

@DrakeWBB
- Drake comes into the ARC Thursday with a 20-9 overall record and in a three-way tie atop the MVC standings at 14-4 in Valley play.
- The Bulldogs have won nine of their last 10 games, with the only setback in that stretch being a three-point loss to Missouri State three games back.
- Katie Dinnebier leads the nation with 7.5 asissts/game, while also pacing the Valley and ranking ninth nationally with 22.2 points/game. 
- Anna Miller adds 14.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, while Courtney Becker contributes 10.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.

Caution, Falling Records
- When Leah Earnest stepped on the court this past Saturday at Illinois State, she became the program's all-time leader in games played.
- Earnest donned the Brown and Gold for the 142nd time Saturday afternoon, moving past Caitlin Morrison atop the career games played chart.
- Another major program standard is within Earnest's reach as well, as she enters Thursday's game against Drake with 860 career rebounds, just 10 away from Tamra Braun's career record in that department.

Beating the Buzzer
- Leah Earnest knocked down her second game-winning shot inside the final 10 seconds in as many seasons with her triple at Bradley with 6.4 seconds to play last Thursday.
- Earnest previously connected on a game-winning layup at the buzzer last season in a one-point win at UIC.
- Prior to Earnest's shot last season, Valpo's last game-winning shot in the final seconds came back in 2016, a Meredith Hamlet layup at the buzzer at Chicago State.

Finally, Some Drama
- While most of Valpo's season has lacked for late-game drama, the Beacons seem to be making up down the stretch of the season.
- Valpo held off Indiana State for a five-point win in its last home game, hitting its free throws over the final 30 seconds to make sure the Sycamores didn't have a late chance to tie or take the lead.
- Last Thursday at Bradley, the Beacons had to overcome a two-point deficit as the clock ticked inside 30 seconds in an eventual two-point win - Valpo's first one-possession finish of the season.
- Prior to the win over Indiana State, Valpo's closest game of the year had been a seven-point home win over Bradley. The Beacons did play a double overtime game against Detroit Mercy, which ended up being an eight-point final margin.

Looking to the Tournament
- While there's still two games to play in the regular season, it's never too early to start looking ahead to the first edition of the Credit Union 1 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament to be contested at the Ford Center in Evansville.
- With last Thursday's win over Bradley, Valpo guaranteed a game in its home uniforms at the tournament, as the Beacons were assured of no worse than the eighth seed.
- Given the current NET rankings, for Valpo to move up from the eighth seed, it would almost assuredly need to go 2-0 this week and have UIC go 0-2.
- Should Valpo end up in that 8/9 game, it would tip off the tournament at noon on Thursday, March 13, and with a win, would advance to play the regular season champion the next day at noon as well.

Nevaeh Knocks Them Down
- After going 8-for-14 from 3-point range over the Beacons' two road games last week, sophomore Nevaeh Jackson has cracked Valpo's single-season chart.
- Jackson has connected on 67 3-pointers this year, 10th-most in a single season in program history and just two shy of cracking the top-five.
- Notably, despite the 3-point shooting prowess of Coach Evans' teams in her seven years at the helm, the last player to crack that top-10 chart was Meredith Hamlet in 2015-16.

22x1,500
- Leah Earnest became just the third player in program history to hit 1,500 career points with a basket midway through the third quarter against UIC.
- The basket also moved Earnest past Sarrah Stricklett for third on the Beacons' career scoring chart.
- Earnest became the fifth active MVC player with 1,500 career points at the D-I level, joining Katelyn Young (MUR), Katie Dinnebier (DRA), Maya McDermott (UNI) and Jaida McCloud (UIC).
- Currently sitting on 1,592 career points, a jump to second on the program's career chart night be a tough ask for Earnest, as Dani Franklin currently occupies that position with 1,721 points.

20 Or More For 22
- Leah Earnest reached the 20-point mark for the 12th time this season with a team-high 21 points in the win over Indiana State.
- Notably, Earnest did not hit the 20-point mark in any of the first seven games this year, meaning she has 12 20-point efforts in the last 22 games.
- Highlights include a 29-point effort at Lehigh - the second-highest scoring game of her career - and a 27-point game on 10-of-16 shooting in the win over Bradley.
- Earnest scored 20+ in four consecutive games Dec. 21-Jan. 4, the first Valpo player to do so in at least 15 years - the last time a Valpo player had scored 20+ in even three straight games was Shay Frederick in the 2020-21 campaign.
- Earnest has the most 20-point games by a Valpo player in a single season since Michelle Russell had at least 12 in the 1993-94 season.

Others With 20/20 Vision
- Earnest is far from the only Beacon to hit the 20-point mark this season.
- In all, four Valpo players have combined for 20 games with 20 or more points - compare that to last year, when only two players broke the 20-point barrier in a combined nine games.
- Nevaeh Jackson has hit the 20-point mark in back-to-back outings, going for 25 in the win at Bradley and 21 last time out at Illinois State. Earlier this year, Jackson raced past her previous career high with 26 points at Saint Louis, and also had 20-point performances earlier in the season in the win over Goshen and against Purdue Fort Wayne.
- Layla Gold joined Earnest in crossing the 20-point mark versus UDM, finishing with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Earlier this year, Gold more than doubled her previous career best of 11 points with a 23-point night - which included five 3-pointers - at Milwaukee.
- Against Trinity Christian, Kayla Preston smashed her previous best, going for 20 points on 7-10 FG and 6-8 FT.

An Eye on the Record Book
- As Leah Earnest's career winds down, she is making an impact all over the program's career records, and with the season she is having, she'll look for spots on the team's single-season charts as well.
Career
- Games played - 1st, 142
- Points - 3rd, 1,592 (Dani Franklin, 2nd, 1,721)
- Rebounds - 2nd, 860 (Tamra Braun, 1st, 870)
- Field goals made - 4th, 570 (Jeanette Gray, 3rd, 595)
- Free throws made - 3rd, 350 (Sarrah Stricklett, 2nd, 494)
- Points per game - t-9th, 11.2
- Rebounds/game - 7th, 6.1
- Field goal percentage - t-9th, .460
Single-Season
- Points - 6th, 493 (Leah Earnest 2023-24, 5th, 494; Michelle Russell 1993-94, 4th, 506)
- Rebounds - 219 (10th, 244)
- Field goals made - 10th, 167 (Michelle Russell 1993-94, 9th, 171; Stephanie Greer 1990-91, 8th, 173, Dani Franklin 2017-18, 7th, 177)
- Free throws made - 4th, 126 (Sarrah Stricklett 1997-98, 3rd, 152)
- Points/game - 7th, 17.0

Team Single-Season Marks
- As a team this season, Valpo has cracked a pair of the program's single-season top-10 charts.
- The Beacons have connected on 215 3-pointers this year, ninth-most in a single season in program history and just 11 triples out of the top-five.
- Mary Evans' seven seasons have accounted for seven of the nine highest single-season 3-point totals in program history.
- Valpo has racked up 292 steals this year, tied with the 2002-03 squad for 10th-most in a single season in program history.
- With nine more steals, this year's team would have the program's highest single-season steals total since 2001-02.

Winning With Defense
- Strong defensive efforts have been a common thread in the Beacons' victories this season, and their most recent wins have been no different.
- Valpo limited both Bradley (home) and Evansville (road) to 17 first-half points apiece in those victories - the lowest mark by a Valpo D-I opponent at halftime since the Beacons went on the road and limited South Dakota to 17 first-half points on Dec. 10, 2021.
- The Braves scored in single digits in each of the first two quarters, while the Purple Aces hit just one field goal in a three-point second quarter - the lowest-scoring quarter by a Valpo opponent since it held Indiana State scoreless in the second period Feb. 8, 2020.
- Valpo allowed Bradley to shoot just 30.5% from the field in the home win - the lowest mark by a Valpo D-I opponent this year and the second lowest by a D-I opponent over the last three seasons.
- It's actually been quite simple if you look at it: when the Beacons have held their opponent under 60 points this year, they are 10-0; when Valpo's opponent scores at least 60 points, the Beacons are 2-16.

Forcing Miscues
- The Beacons rank as the MVC's best at forcing miscues, averaging 19.8 turnovers forced/game.
- The Beacons have forced more turnovers than they've committed in 19 of 29 games.
- Valpo also leads the MVC with 10.1 steals/game and has tallied double-figure steals in 16 games this year.
- Valpo has forced at least 20 turnovers in 11 games so far, highlighted by 29 forced turnovers against Detroit Mercy and 28 in the win at Evansville.
- The Beacons racked up a season-best 16 steals in their home wins over Evansville and Indiana State, while they tallied 15 steals apiece in wins over Goshen, Western Michigan and Evansville (road).
- In the win over North Dakota, Valpo turned the Fighting Hawks' 26 turnovers into 33 points and held a massive 33-9 edge in points off turnovers. It was the program's greatest number of points off turnovers and the highest edge in the category since a Feb. 22, 2020 win at Loyola, when Valpo forced 31 turnovers and owns a 38-4 advantage in points off turnovers.

No Sophomore Slump
- After ranking fourth on the team in scoring (7.2 points/game) as a rookie, sophomore Nevaeh Jackson has cemented herself as a consistent second scorer this season.
- Jackson has nearly doubled her scoring average, entering Thursday's game second on the team with 13.8 points/game.
- Jackson has scored in double figures in 21 of 29 games, highlighted by her 26-point effort at Saint Louis.

Hoosier State Crown
- After sweeping the road trip to Indiana State and Evansville earlier this season, Valpo claimed the unofficial Hoosier State crown among the Valley's three Indiana-based schools by earning two more wins at home.
- This is the third time since Valpo joined the MVC that it has posted the best record against its in-state foes, also doing so in 2019-20 (4-0) and 2021-22 (3-1).
- Indiana State has finished with the best record three times (2017-18, 4-0; 2018-19, 3-1; 2023-24, 4-0) and Evansville once (2022-23, 3-1), while all three teams went .500 against the other two in 2020-21.

Quite the Turnaround
- Valpo's nine-point win over UIC was notable given the result when the two squads played in January in Chicago.
- That game ended 60-45 in UIC's favor, meaning that the Beacons flipped the scoring margin 24 points from one matchup to the next.
- That marks the program's largest shift from the first meeting of the season to the second meeting since the 2021-22 team fell to Indiana State by 20 the first time out before winning by five the second time around.

Career Highs
- Five of Valpo's seven returnees have set career bests in the scoring column this season - the only returnees who haven't are Saniya Jackson, who is out for the season, and Earnest.
- Joining the trio who had their first career 20-point efforts are senior Katie Beyer and sophomore Raeven Raye-Redmond.
- Raye-Redmond smashed past her previous best of nine with a 15-point night on 6-of-9 shooting at Milwaukee.
- Beyer hit three 3-pointers on her way to a 14-point game in the season opener versus Liberty, and then against North Dakota, surpassed that again with a 16-point effort.

All-Tournament Honors
- Valpo had a pair of players recognized as All-Tournament Team honorees following the conclusion of the Christmas City Classic.
- Leah Earnest averaged 23.5 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game over the Beacons' two contests.
- Katie Beyer earned her selection by virtue of a strong 16-point performance, surpassing her career high, in the win over North Dakota.

Missing Pieces
- Valpo is down two starters for the remainder of the season due to injury.
- Saniya Jackson did not see any game action this year, undergoing successful knee surgery in early November.
- Raeven Raye-Redmond suffered a lower leg injury late in regulation Dec. 21 against Detroit Mercy and will miss the rest of the year as well.