Valparaiso (1-2, 0-0 MVC)
Game #4 - Friday, Nov. 13, 2026 - 10 a.m. CT - at Purdue Fort Wayne (1-2, 0-0 Horizon)
Game #5 - Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026 - 1 p.m. CT - at Toledo (1-2, 0-0 MAC)

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: Fresh off its first win of the season, the Valpo women's basketball team hits the road for its next two games, playing its second consecutive morning game Friday at Purdue Fort Wayne before heading on to Toledo for a Sunday afternoon matchup.

Previously: Playing in front of a raucous crowd of fifth-graders from Valparaiso Community Schools on the program's third annual Education Day, Valpo gave the youngsters plenty to cheer about, as the Beacons earned their first win of the season with an 89-47 victory over Culver-Stockton Tuesday. Five players scored in double figures as Valpo scored the game's first 10 points and never looked back.

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

Head Coach Courtney Boyd (1-34 at Valpo, 2nd season; 181-102 [.640] overall, 9th season): Courtney Boyd was named the ninth head coach of the Valparaiso University women's basketball program on 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 nine seasons as a head coach. She spent the two seasons prior to her arrival at Valpo 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: Purdue Fort Wayne - Valpo owns a 12-6 advantage in the all-time series with the Mastodons, but just one of those meetings has come in the last seven years - a 72-56 win for Purdue Fort Wayne at the ARC early in the 2024-25 season. Two current Beacons played in that game - Maci Rhoades started and scored three points in 15 minutes, while Raeven Raye-Redmond came off the bench to score eight points.

Toledo - Valpo holds a 2-1 advantage in the all-time series with the Rockets. The last meetings came back in November of 2018 and 2019, a home-and-home series in which each program won on the road - Toledo 65-59 at Valpo in 2018, and Valpo 61-54 in Toledo in 2019.

@ValpoWBB...
...versus Culver-Stockton
- Valpo started strong, opening the game on a 10-0 run in the first three minutes — a stretch capped by back-to-back 3-pointers from Maci Rhoades.
- Later in the opening period, the Beacons put together an 11-0 run in a span of just over three minutes. Maddie Vejsicky opened the spurt with a 3-pointer and Jana Nogués had four points during the run, a run which boosted Valpo's lead temporarily to 19 points as it eventually led 24-9 at the end of the first quarter.
- Valpo's defense held Culver-Stockton without a point for a stretch of nearly five minutes in the middle of the second quarter, in the process pushing its advantage to 24 points. The Beacons entered halftime with a 42-19 lead.
- The Beacons' offense scored points on each of their first six possessions of the second half, capped by consecutive 3-pointers from Dani Guedet to increase the lead into the 30s for the first time. Valpo ended the third quarter ahead 67-34, reaching 67 points on a triple from von Schlegell with 34 seconds to play in the period and sending the children into hysterics.
- Valpo held the Wildcats off the scoreboard for over four minutes to start the fourth quarter as the Beacons' lead reached the 40s en route to closing out the win.
- The win was the first at the helm of the Valpo program for head coach Courtney Boyd.
- The Beacons' 42-point margin of victory marks their largest win since a 95-49 triumph over Chicago State Dec. 28, 2019.
- It was a balanced team effort in the win, as all 12 active players played at least five minutes, with 10 of the 12 playing at least 15 minutes and nobody playing more than 24 minutes.
- All 12 active players scored at least two points as well and five scored in double figures, led by 15 points off the bench from Guedet.
- The Beacons dished out 21 assists against only nine turnovers and racked up 15 steals among the 27 turnovers they forced from Culver-Stockton, outscoring the visitors 26-7 in points off turnovers.
- Valpo also dominated the paint Tuesday, finishing the game with a 44-12 advantage in points in the paint.

...versus Detroit Mercy
- Valpo led by six late in the second quarter, but Detroit Mercy scored seven points on its last three first-half possessions and the Beacons needed a Hillary Offing jumper before the buzzer to lead 30-29 at halftime.
- The Beacons' edge was six at 44-38 with 3:49 to play in the third quarter, but UDM scored six in a row over the next two minutes to tie things up, and the Titans got a last-second basket to hold a 48-47 lead entering the fourth quarter.
- A little 6-0 stretch midway through the final period — containing baskets from Osade Igbinedion and Dani Guedet and a pair of free throws from Offing — gave Valpo some breathing room, pushing its lead to five. The Titans connected from the floor a minute later, but Maci Rhoades answered with a big triple to make it 58-52 Valpo with 4:18 to play.
- Valpo was limited to just one point on its next five possessions, and the Titans' Paula Lopez connected on 3-pointers on consecutive trips to kick off an 11-1 run which turned it into a 63-59 UDM lead with 1:35 to play.
- Jana Nogués converted a driving layup with 1:20 to play to cut the deficit to two, but UDM answered with a basket of its own, and while Igbinedion finished inside with 31 seconds remaining to again make it a two-point game, the Titans hit the key free throws late.
- Offing came off the bench to lead the Beacons with 17 points, her second-highest effort at the D-I level. She also set her high as a D-I player with three steals.
- Playing her first home game since March 2025, Rhoades finished with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting and led Valpo with a career-high eight rebounds.
- Igbinedion scored in double figures for the first time in her collegiate career, posting 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
- Denza Allen rounded out the quartet in double figures, hitting 5-of-8 from the field for 11 points while also grabbing six rebounds and leading Valpo in the +/- department with a +12.
- While both teams shot nearly identical percentages from the field — UDM 36.8% and Valpo 37.3% — the Titans were 5-for-14 from 3-point range versus the Beacons' 4-for-22 effort from deep. The Titans also hit 20-of-28 at the foul line, while Valpo was just 9-of-21 at the stripe.

...looking back at last year
- The Beacons went 0-32 during the 2025-26 season.
- Allia von Schlegell earned a spot on the MVC All-Freshman Team, Valpo's first All-Freshman Team honoree since 2022-23 and only its third in its time in the MVC.
- Fiona Connolly averaged a team-high 12.7 points/game, a 9.2 points/game improvement in her scoring average year-over-year - the second-highest jump by a Valpo player in the last two decades.

...looking ahead
- The Beacons return home to the ARC next Friday, Nov. 20 versus South Dakota.
- Valpo then turns around and goes right back on the road, traveling to take on SIUE Sunday afternoon, Nov. 22

...in the MVC
- Valpo is in its 10th season as a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, having joined the Valley prior to the 2017-18 school year.
- The Beacons were picked outside of the top-six of the MVC preeason poll, as the Valley released only the top six selections.
- For the first time, the MVC Women's Basketball Tournament will be part of Arch Madness in St. Louis this season.

...on the road
- This weekend's games are the second and third of 17 in total this year for the Beacons on the road.
- Valpo faces seven road games in the nonconference slate before facing each of the other 10 MVC teams on their home court in conference play.

@MastodonWBB
- Purdue Fort Wayne enters Friday's game with a 1-2 record this year, most recently earning a 61-56 win at Western Michigan Tuesday evening.
- Claire Gregwer leads the Mastodons through three games, averaging 15.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
- Last season, PFW went 21-14 and advanced to the Super 16 of the WNIT.

@ToledoWBB
- Toledo brings a 1-2 record into Sunday's matchup, most recently winning their own Kids Day game against Youngstown State on Tuesday, 64-60.
- Kendall Carruthers leads the Rockets through three games, averaging 14.0 points/game, while Jyah LoVett posts 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
- Toledo posted a 17-15 record last year and went 9-9 in MAC play.

Prep for Conference Play
- This weekend's road trip was specifically scheduled to replicate a weekend on the road in MVC play.
- Valpo has a pair of weekends like this once Valley action begins: at Murray State Jan. 7/at Southern Illinois Jan. 9; at UNI Feb. 19/at Drake Feb. 21.
- The Beacons also play two road games in three days Dec. 20 at Illinois State and Dec. 22 at UIC, but they will return home after the matchup with the Redbirds before making the day trip to Chicago.

Tidbits From Culver-Stockton
- Valpo had five players score in double figures, the first time it has had that happen since Dec. 20, 2020 at Wisconsin.
- That game went to overtime, however - the last time Valpo had five in double digits in regulation was Feb. 2, 2020 at UNI.
- Dani Guedet hit four 3-pointers as part of her team-high 15-point day, becoming only the second Valpo freshman since 2009-10 (the years covered by Her Hoop Stats) to hit four or more 3-pointers off the bench - Shay Frederick did so three times in 2018-19 as a rookie.
- Denza Allen posted the first double-double of her collegiate career with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting and 13 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end.
- Allen pulled down 10 of her boards in the first half alone, becoming the first Valpo player since Grace White at Drake Feb. 4, 2022 to enter halftime with at least 10 rebounds.
- Allen's seven offensive boards are the most by a Valpo player in a single game since Amber Lindfors grabbed seven on the offensive end against Youngstown State March 3, 2017.
- Allen's numbers came in just 16:35 of playing time, making her one of just four players in D-I (as of Nov. 10) with 13 or more boards in 17 minutes or fewer this year, as well as one of just 12 D-I players with a double-double in 17 minutes or fewer.
- Led by Allen's efforts on the offensive glass, the Beacons tallied 23 offensive rebounds, their most in a single game since tallying 27 at UIC Jan. 28, 2017. Valpo converted its 23 offensive boards into 28 second-chance points.
- Valpo finished with an offensive rebounding rate above 50% for the first since Jan. 26, 2018 at Evansville, and in the Her Hoop Stats era, Tuesday's 57.5% rate was its second-best single-game rate, trailing only a 61.1% clip in the aforementioned Youngstown State game.
- Constanza Aravena handed out a team-high six assists, becoming the first Valpo player with six or more assists as a reserve since Grace White recorded seven assists off the bench at Evansville Feb. 18, 2022.

Injury Returns
- Three players on this year's team are back with the Beacons after sitting out the entirety of last season due to injury.
- Raeven Raye-Redmond was Valpo's starting point guard when she suffered an injury versus Detroit Mercy on Dec. 21, 2024, and fittingly returned to action against those very same Titans last Saturday - her first appearance for the Beacons in 686 days.
- Maci Rhoades missed Valpo's 2025 MVC Tournament game against Bradley with an injury which eventually sidelined her for the entirety of the 2025-26 season - she returned to competition in the season opener at Michigan State.
- Nuala Connolly made her collegiate debut last time out against Culver-Stockton, hitting a pair of free throws in 5:41 of playing time, after missing out due to injury in her first season on campus.
- This is the first time since 2019-20 that Valpo has had players return to its roster after missing an entire season due to injury - both Marlee Profitt and Caitlin Morrison made their comebacks that year after missing the 2018-19 campaign.

Owning the Paint
- Valpo held a significant edge in the paint (44-12) last time out against Culver-Stockton, but that wasn't a one-off, as they also held the advantage inside against Detroit Mercy, finishing with 40 points in the paint against the Titans and owning a 12-point edge.
- It was the program's largest positive margin in the paint since a +12 mark at Bradley Feb. 27, 2025.
- The 40 points in the paint were the Beacons' single-game high back to Jan. 17, 2025 versus Illinois State, when they also racked up 40 points in the paint.

Taking Advantage of Second Chances
- Much like the work in the paint, the second-chance opportunities the Beacons earned against Culver-Stockton (23 offensive boards; 28 second-chance points) weren't a one-off, as Valpo turned 16 offensive rebounds against Detroit Mercy into 18 second chance points, holding an 18-7 edge in that department.
- It was the team's most second-chance points and biggest advantage in the category since an identical 18-7 edge in the department at Evansville Feb. 25, 2018.

Off(ing) and Running
- Purdue Fort Wayne transfer Hillary Offing has made her presence felt in the frontcourt on the offensive end.
- Offing came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points in 21 minutes against Detroit Mercy, hitting 5-11 from the floor and 7-9 from the foul line.
- While stats from the preseason closed scrimmages and exhibition game were not disclosed, let's just say double digits were needed in the scoring column for her there as well.
- Offing also came up with her D-I best with three steals against the Titans, making her one of just three Valpo players in the Her Hoop Stats era (2009-on) to tally at least 17 points and three steals off the bench - Grace White did so in a February 2022 win at Drake, while Lauren Kenney did so twice in a week's span in January 2010.

Stock(s) Rising for Denza
- While it's perhaps a somewhat crude measurement of defensive impact, redshirt freshman Denza Allen's count of 11 stocks (steals + blocks) through three games stands out.
- Allen had three blocks and two steals in the season opener at Michigan State, posted two steals and a block versus Detroit Mercy and tallied two blocks and a steal against Culver-Stockton.
- Obviously it's way too soon to project out based on two games, but it's worth noting that only three players in program history have averaged at least one steal and blocked shot per game across a full season: Caitlin Morrison (2017-18 & 2019-20), Marlous Nieuwveen (2001-02) and Deb Lahti (1983-84).