Valparaiso (0-31, 0-20 MVC)
2026 Credit Union 1 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament
Game #32 - March 12, 2026 - 8:30 p.m.
vs. Drake (11-19, 10-10 MVC)
Xtream Arena (5,100) - Coralville, Iowa

 Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valpo women's basketball team heads to the 2026 Credit Union 1 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament as the tournament's 11th seed and will face sixth-seeded Drake in the opening round. The Beacons will have to win four games over four days to claim the tournament title.

Previously: The regular season came to an end for Valpo Saturday afternoon at the ARC, as the Beacons dropped a 100-68 decision to the visitors from Murray State, which had already secured the MVC regular season title entering the day. Playing the final home game of her collegiate career, Fiona Connolly surpassed her career best with a game-high 23 points.

Following Valpo Basketball: Video: ESPN+ - Brad Wells and Jacqui Kalin
Radio: WVUR (95.1 FM, Valparaiso) - Eli Conklin and Paul Oren
Streaming Audio: TuneIn app
Links for live coverage: Available via ValpoAthletics.com

Head Coach Courtney Boyd (0-31 at Valpo, 1st season; 180-99 [.645] 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 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: Drake leads the all-time series with Valpo, 20-3, including two wins this season - a 66-56 victory at the ARC in January and a 79-68 win in Des Moines last month. Milana Nenadic scored a team-high 18 points off the bench in the game at Valpo, while in the most recent meeting, Fiona Connolly scored a game-best 20 points.

@ValpoWBB...
...versus Murray State
- Back-to-back jumpers from Fiona Connolly had Valpo within 12-10 with 3:16 to play in the opening quarter.
- The Racers ended the period on a 14-4 run to lead 26-14 10 minutes into the game.
- Valpo nicked the deficit down to 10 points twice early in the second quarter, but on the second time, Murray State came out with a 12-0 spurt over the next three minutes to extend its lead.
- The Racers held a 55-28 lead at halftime and an 87-48 advantage at the end of the third quarter.
- Connolly scored 10 points in just four minutes of play in the final period, a quarter which featured extended run for both teams' benches and was highlighted by the first career 3-pointer for Bella Swedlund in her final career home game.
- Playing in her final career home game, Connolly hit the 20-point mark for the sixth time this year as she led all players with 23 points — in the process surpassing her previous career best of 22 points, set early last month at the ARC versus Southern Illinois.
- Connolly was efficient with her shots, hitting 7-of-12 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point range — setting a career best for triples in a game — and 5-of-6 from the foul line.
- Milana Nenadic reached double figures as well with 13 points and paced the Beacons with nine rebounds.
- Playing in her final collegiate home game, Mikayla Huffine tied her career best with six rebounds and tied for team-high honors with three assists.
- Autumn Dibb came off the bench with a season-best eight points, including the first two 3-pointers of her collegiate career.
- Not only did Swedlund connect from the 3-point line for the first time in her collegiate career, she also set a career high with three rebounds and came up with her first collegiate steal.
- Valpo shot at a 34.7% clip from the field and was 10-for-29 from 3-point range — matching its second-highest total of made triples in a game this year. Murray State finished shooting 43.4% from the floor and was 11-for-33 from the 3-point line.
- The Beacons committed just 12 turnovers, tied for their second-fewest in a game this season.

...versus Belmont
- 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 scored five and Kamryn Winch 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 and buckets from Milana Nenadic and Kayla Sullivan — 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.
- Nenadic scored in double figures for the 11th 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 on the season, 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.
- 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.

...looking ahead
- With a win on Thursday, the Beacons would face third-seeded Illinois State on Friday night at 8:30 p.m.

...at neutral sites
- Thursday's game is the third neutral-site game of the season for Valpo, as the Beacons played games at Cleveland State against Radford and St. Bonaventure over the Thanksgiving holiday.
- Valpo has won just one of its last 10 neutral-site games, dating back to the 2021 MVC Women's Basketball Tournament.

....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).

@DrakeWBB
- The Bulldogs enter the MVC Tournament at 11-19 on the season and earned the sixth seed for the tournament with a 10-10 record in Valley play.
- Drake had won five of its last six games before succumbing to a late run from UNI in the regular season finale Sunday.
- Abbie Aalsma averages a team-best 15.1 points/game, while Anna Becker contributes 11.5 points/game as well.
- The Bulldogs are playing on Thursday at the MVC Tournament for the first time since 2022.

A Look Back at the Drake Games
...66-56 loss at Valpo on Jan. 18
- Valpo led throughout the first quarter, ending the period with an 18-14 edge.
- The Beacons' lead was 22-16 with 6:42 to play in the second quarter before Drake ended the half on a 17-3 run to lead 33-25 at intermission.
- The Bulldogs led by as many as 14 in the third quarter before Valpo closed to within 54-45 with 10 minutes remaining.
- The Beacons cut the deficit to four points with 6:51 to play before Drake extended back to a 12-point lead.
- Valpo got back within 62-55 with 2:08 to play - the Beacons got two more stops in a row on the defensive end to give themselves a chance to inch even closer, but a pair of great looks right at the rim on the offensive side didn't fall.
- Milana Nenadic paced Valpo with 18 points and tied for team-high honors with five rebounds.
- Kayla Sullivan and Kayla Preston both scored in double figures as well, finishing with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
- Valpo's two leading scorers on the season — Fiona Connolly and Allia von Schlegell — were limited to single digits, one of just four times that has happened this year.
- Valpo shot just 32.1% from the floor, but the Beacons were 7-for-19 from 3-point range. Drake shot 41.1% from the field, but was just 5-for-19 from beyond the arc.

...79-68 loss at Drake on Feb. 19
- Drake was the team which started on the front foot, as the Bulldogs led 12-5 just 3:02 into the ballgame.
- But the Beacons exploded over the next few minutes offensively, scoring on eight consecutive offensive possessions and putting up 21 points. Five different players hit 3-pointers during the stretch, which saw Valpo go up by seven points with 2:15 to play in the period on a layup from Fiona Connolly.
- Another drive and finish by Connolly in the final 40 seconds closed the scoring in the opening frame, as Valpo held a 28-21 lead.
- An 11-1 run for the Beacons pushed the lead to 41-26 with three minutes to play in the half.
- Valpo carried a 46-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.
- Kayla Sullivan connected from deep 1:19 into the third quarter, restoring Valpo's largest lead at 15 points.
- Drake went on a 14-2 run over the next six-plus minutes to cut Valpo's lead to three points, where it remained at the end of the quarter, as the Beacons were in front 56-53.
- The Bulldogs scored on back-to-back possessions early in the fourth quarter to take their first lead since the first quarter with 8:18 to play, but Valpo responded with a 9-1 run, and when Kamryn Winch connected on a foul-line jumper with 5:22 to play, the Beacons led 65-58.
- That proved to be Valpo's last point for over four and a half minutes, as Drake scored 17 in a row to take the lead for good. Abbie Aalsma started the key run with back-to-back triples following Winch's basket.
- The 28-point first quarter was Valpo's highest scoring quarter of the season.
- The Beacons led at halftime for the third time this year and after three quarters for the first time.
- For the second time this season, four Beacons scored in double figures, led by a game-best 20 points from Connolly.
- Milana Nenadic tallied 14 points and paced Valpo with seven rebounds.
- Allia von Schlegell scored in double figures with a 12-point night, while Sullivan reached double digits with 11 points, including a season-high three 3-pointers.
- Valpo shot 36.4% from the field and was 10-for-33 from 3-point range — its second-highest total of triples this year. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs were 43.3% from the floor, including 8-for-18 from the 3-point line.

Valpo in the Postseason
- After winning its first game in its first three appearances at the MVC Tournament, Valpo has dropped its first game in each of the last four seasons.
- The Beacons last played on Friday in 2022, when they earned a spot directly in the quarterfinals as the six seed.
- This is just the third time since joining the MVC that Valpo has opened the conference tournament against a team it lost twice to in the regular season - Valpo defeated Indiana State to open the 2019 tournament after two regular-season losses, while most recently, UIC earned a 25-point win at the 2023 tournament opener after edging the Beacons by a combined three points in two regular season matchups.
- This year sees Valpo return to its familiar 8:30 p.m. time slot to open the tournament, as the Beacons also opened the 2022 and 2023 tournaments with an 8:30 p.m. game. Going back further, Valpo opened with the last game of the day in 2021 (a 7:30 p.m. tip), while its first game for the canceled 2020 tournament was slated for 8:30 p.m. as well.

500 and Counting for Fiona
- With her final point late in the fourth quarter Feb. 28 against Illinois State, Fiona Connolly tallied the 500th point of her collegiate career.
- Connolly scored 53 points over two seasons at La Salle and scored 109 last year as a junior before exploding this year, scoring 366 to date.
- She has led the Beacons in scoring 12 times and has scored in double figures 19 times this year, including six games of 20+ points - highlighted by a career-best 23-point effort in the regular season finale versus Murray State.
- Connolly's points/game average has jumped from 3.5 ppg last year to 12.6 ppg this season - that 9.1 ppg jump ranks 64th nationally (among players who have played at least 15 games in both seasons) and third in the MVC (among players in the Valley both seasons).
- It is the second-biggest jump by a Valpo player in the Her Hoops Stats era (since 2008-09), behind only Addison Stoller, who went from 3.3 ppg in 2017-18 to 12.8 ppg in 2018-19 for a 9.5 ppg jump.

Closing Strong
- Connolly has been making the most of the last few weeks of her collegiate career.
- The senior was limited to eight points against Evansville Feb. 5, her seventh consecutive game in single digits as her scoring average dropped to 10.9 points/game.
- Since then, Connolly has scored at least 11 points in all eight games, averaging 17.1 points/game in that stretch.
- She has hit the 20-point mark four times in those eight games, including the two highest-scoring games of her career - 23 in the regular-season finale against Murray State and 22 at home versus Southern Illinois.

A Quick 20
- Connolly scored a game-high 20 points at UNI despite playing just 19:09 in that contest due to foul trouble.
- It is the second time this year the Beacons have had a 20-point scorer play fewer than 20 minutes, as Milana Nenadic did so in 19:15 at Iowa State back in November.
- Before this season, Valpo had just three players accomplish the feat in the last 22 years.
- Connolly and Nenadic had been the only two MVC players to accomplish the feat this season, until Haven Ford scored 20 in 19:55 at the ARC last Saturday.

Allia's Big Day(s)
- Freshman Allia von Schlegell averaged 12.4 points/game in MVC play, but took it to another level in Valpo's home game against Southern Illinois.
- von Schlegell's 29 points bested her previous career high of 19 points by 10, as she established a career high for field goals made and matched her career best for 3-pointers made.
- von Schlegell scored the most points by a Valpo freshman since Ali Saunders scored 32 against UAB Nov. 21, 2022. It also matched the most points by an MVC freshman this season.
- 15 of von Schlegell's points came in the fourth quarter alone as she outscored SIU in the final period. It is the most points in a single period by a Valpo player this season.
- Even more impressively, von Schlegell scored those 29 points while not committing a single turnover in 35 minutes of action. She is one of just five D-I freshmen this year with a game with 29 or more points and no turnovers.

The Freshman Fills It Up
- von Schlegell has made a big impact in her rookie season.
- She has scored in double figures 18 times this year - 12 times, von Schlegell has dropped at least 15 points - the most 15+ point games by a Valpo freshman since Dani Franklin hit the 15-point mark 12 times in the 2014-15 season.
- von Schlegell currently ranks third among MVC freshmen in scoring (11.3 points/game) and is second in 3-pointers made (61).
- She ranks 59th nationally in freshman scoring and is tied for 14th among freshmen nationally in 3-pointers made.
- von Schlegell scored in double figures six times in nonconference action, tied for seventh-most in program history by a freshman in nonconference games since Valpo joined the North Star Conference for the 1987-88 season.
- 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.

Freshman Scoring Leaders
- von Schlegell is one of just nine freshmen in program history to score at least 300 points as a rookie and has put herself in position to challenge Valpo's freshman scoring record.
- Sarrah Stricklett scored 377 points as a rookie in 1996-97, a mark which von Schlegell enters Thursday 28 points back of:
377 - Sarrah Stricklett, 1996-97
365 - Dani Franklin, 2014-15
351 - Debbie Bolen, 1989-90
349 - Allia von Schlegell, 2025-26
331 - Tabitha Gerardot, 2010-11
329 - Meredith Hamlet, 2015-16
326 - Jeanette Gray, 1999-2000
322 - Ali Saunders, 2022-23
302 - Jasmyn Walker, 2014-15
- Notably, every player on this list was an All-Freshman/Newcomer Team honoree in their respective season.

Nenadic's Night
- It was truly a night to remember for Milana Nenadic at Illinois State Jan. 15, coming off the bench to deliver 34 points on 16-of-25 shooting.
- The 16 field goals made broke the program record for baskets in a single game, as the previous mark was shared at 15 by Deb Lahti (Feb. 19, 1983 vs. Carthage) and Lyn Swanson (Feb. 8, 1986 at Carthage).
- Nenadic is tied for ninth among NCAA D-I players this season for field goals in a game.
- Nenadic's 25 field goal attempts are tied for eighth-most in a single game in Valpo history.
- The junior now shares fifth on Valpo's single-game scoring chart with Dani Franklin, who dropped 34 at Stetson Nov. 12, 2016. Those two are the only Valpo players to score at least 34 in a game since 1992. Nenadic's 34 points are the most by a player coming off the bench in program history.
- Nenadic's previous career best was 20 points earlier this year while facing All-American Audi Crooks at Iowa State.
- Nenadic is just the fourth MVC player in the last nine seasons with at least 16 baskets in a game, and joins a few pretty solid players in that department — Drake's Katie Dinnebier, Belmont's Destinee Wells and Murray State's Katelyn Young.
- Nenadic went on to score 18 points later that weekend against Drake and was named MVC Newcomer of the Week Jan. 19 for her efforts, becoming Valpo's first MVC weekly award winner in over four years.

A Jump in Production
- Nenadic has taken advantage of her playing time this year to rank third on the team with 9.4 points/game and lead the Beacons with 5.4 rebounds/game.
- She has scored in double figures 12 times, including a pair of efforts of at least 20 points, and has tallied at least 10 boards four times.
- In her first three collegiate seasons (two at Maine, one at Idaho State), Nenadic played just 29 minutes over 11 games, scoring eight points and pulling down nine rebounds.
- In the Her Hoop Stats era (since 2008-09), Nenadic's 291 points this season are the most by a D-I player who did not score a single point in at least five games played the previous season.
- Nenadic's 9.4 points/game this year have come in just 18.0 minutes/game - the highest scoring average of any D-I player who averages 18 minutes or fewer.

Gobbling Up the Boards
- Kamryn Winch needed just 15:18 of playing time last Thursday versus Belmont to pull down 10 rebounds, the fourth time this year she has reached double digits on the glass.
- It was the second time she's reached double figures in less than 16 minutes, as at UIC, she matched her career high with 12 rebounds while playing just 13:10.
- Winch is the only Valpo player to record 10+ boards while playing less than 16 minutes against a D-I opponent since at least 2002-03 - Sylwia Zabielewicz tallied 10 rebounds in 14 minutes in November 2009 against Indiana Tech.
- Winch is the only MVC player and one of just three nationally with multiple such games this season.
- You have to go back to the 2019-20 campaign and Missouri State's Emily Gartner to find the last MVC player with multiple such games in the same season.

Gaining Experience on the Fly
- Valpo has traversed this season with a roster which was very inexperienced at the D-I level prior to this year.
- The Beacons lost their top four scorers and five players in all from last season to graduation or transfer - a group which played a combined 3,887 minutes in 2024-25.
- Then take into account the Beacons have been without the services of Maci Rhoades and Raeven Raye-Redmond all season, a pair who have combined for 1,934 D-I minutes in their respective careers.
- That leaves six active players who had a total of 2,042 D-I minutes entering the season - basically the equivalent of two seasons worth of minutes for a regular player.

Shifting Starters
- For the first time this season, Valpo has utilized the same starting lineup - Huffine, von Schlegell, Connolly, Sullivan and Nenadic - in more than four consecutive games, as this quintet has started seven straight.
- The Beacons have used 10 different starting lineups this year.
- Ten different players have been a part of at least one starting five this year, with only one - Huffine - starting every game. All ten have started at least three games apiece.
- The Beacons have not used the same starting lineup in more than four consecutive games this season.

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).

Timely Note Distribution
- Over the last few years, it's been this SID's goal to get his MVC Tournament notes in the hands of the broadcast talent/crew and media as quickly as possible.
- This year's effort has been thwarted slightly by the trio of regular season finales on Sunday - a departure from previous years, when the regular season wrapped on Saturday (and let the record show the vast majority of this year's notes were completed by 7:15pm Saturday).
- Distribution of this year's first set of tournament notes is expected early evening on Sunday - here's how that compares to his previous distribution times in his time as Valpo WBB SID:
 - 2025 - Sunday, 11:45am
 - 2024 - Saturday, 9:15pm (Notably, Valpo's first two opponents were already set after the penultimate set of games, allowing him to prepare tournament notes ahead of the regular season finales)
 - 2023 - Monday, 6:02pm
 - 2022 - Tuesday, 3:54pm (Team's first game was on Friday)
 - 2021 - Tuesday, 11:42am
 - 2020 - Wednesday, 8:48am (Team's first scheduled game was on Friday before tournament was canceled due to COVID)