The Valpo women's basketball team played step for step with the Valley's second-place team in Belmont Thursday evening at the ARC for most of the night before the Bruins pulled away in the fourth quarter for an 83-63 victory. Milana Nenadic (Kitchener, Ontario/Cameron Heights [Idaho State/Maine]) led the Beacons with her third double-double of the year, tallying 18 points and 10 rebounds.
 
How It Happened

• The first half of the first quarter was a one-possession game the entire way, with Belmont holding a slim 11-10 lead at the halfway mark.
• Valpo outscored the Bruins 7-2 in the second five minutes of the opening period, as Allia von Schlegell (Downers Grove, Ill./Nazareth Academy) scored five and Kamryn Winch (Bonne Terre, Mo./North County [Maryville]) had a putback basket to give the Beacons a 17-13 lead after 10 minutes.
• Valpo led by as many as seven points in the second quarter and still held a 33-31 advantage with 1:20 to play in the half after another basket from Winch.
• Belmont scored seven straight points in the final 65 seconds of the half to take a 38-33 lead into the locker room.
• The Bruins pushed their lead to 10 points with 6:43 to play in the third quarter before a 9-2 Valpo run — featuring five points from Fiona Connolly (South Burlington, Vt./Brewster Academy [La Salle]) and buckets from Nenadic and Kayla Sullivan (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran North [State Fair C.C.]) — brought the Beacons within 49-46 with 3:11 remaining in the period.
• Belmont led 57-50 entering the fourth quarter. Valpo was still within eight points over three minutes into the final period before the Bruins went on a 15-1 run to pull away.

 
Inside the Game

• Nenadic scored in double figures for the 11^th time this season and paced Valpo for the sixth time as she scored her 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting. The redshirt junior also tied for team-high honors with her 10 boards to record her third double-double this season.
• Valpo's two leading scorers, Connolly and von Schlegell both struggled from the field Thursday, but helped make up for it with their work at the foul line. Connolly hit 7-of-8 from the stripe as she finished with 15 points while also grabbing five rebounds and tying her best in the Valpo uniform with five assists.
• von Schlegell was a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line and finished with nine points, pushing her season total to 344 points — just seven points away from moving into third on Valpo's freshman scoring chart.
• Led by the aforementioned duo's work at the charity stripe, the Beacons hit at an 85.7% clip (18-for-21) from the foul line — the team's second-best free throw percentage of the season.
• Winch matched Nenadic as she grabbed 10 rebounds in 15 minutes of action off the bench — her fourth double-figure effort on the boards this season. The pair of posts became the first Valpo players to both snag at least 10 boards in the same game since Amber Lindfors pulled down 15 rebounds and Dani Franklin 11 March 3, 2017 against Youngstown State.
• Valpo shot 28.8% from the field for the game and hit 7-of-23 from 3-point range, while Belmont hit at a 35.1% clip from the floor and was 9-for-33 from the 3-point line. The Bruins' field goal percentage was tied for second-lowest by a Valpo opponent this season.

 
Next Up
Valpo (0-30, 0-19 MVC) closes the regular season Saturday afternoon at the ARC at 1 p.m. against MVC regular season champion Murray State.