by The Valpo women’s basketball team has made a habit of being able to rally from double-digit deficits to earn wins, and Thursday evening at the ARC was no difference, as the Beacons overcame a 12-point first-half Bradley lead and held off the Braves down the stretch to pick up an 86-84 victory and move back to .500 in MVC play. Shay Frederick (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville) set a new career best with 11 assists, recorded the first double-double of her career and moved into second place in program history in career assists.
How It Happened
- Valpo got out to an early 5-2 lead, but Bradley scored eight straight points to take a lead it would not relinquish until late in the third quarter.
- Back-to-back baskets at the rim from Olivia Brown (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids [St. Bonaventure]) brought Valpo within one at 18-17 before the Braves scored eight in a row in the final 90 seconds of the quarter to lead 26-17 at the end of the first.
- Bradley extended its lead to an apex of 12 points multiple times early in the second quarter. At the second instance, Valpo responded with 3-pointers on each of its next three possessions — two from Cara VanKempen (Coopersville, Mich./Coopersville) and one by Frederick — to quickly move back within 35-31 approaching the halfway mark of the quarter.
- The Braves scored the next four, but Valpo came back with a 9-2 spurt to make it a one-point game late in the quarter. Bradley eventually took a 46-44 lead into halftime.
- Much of the third quarter was a battle for the Beacons to try to regain the lead. Finally, trailing by four with four minutes to play in the period, Valpo got a 3-point play from Grace White (Redby, Minn./Red Lake [Denver]), followed by a defensive stop and a driving layup by Carie Weinman (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South [Denver]) to pull ahead 61-60 for its first lead since the game’s opening minutes.
- The teams traded the lead multiple times late in the third period, and when the dust settled, it was a 65-65 tie with 10 minutes to play.
- The key stretch of the fourth quarter came in a two-minute span approaching the halfway mark of the period. Valpo forced turnovers by the Braves on three straight possessions and took advantage to score six points in a row — two baskets by Weinman sandwiching a Frederick layup — to pull out to a 76-70 lead with 5:36 to play.
- Bradley closed back to within 78-77 with less than three minutes remaining, and after a Valpo miss, had a shot to potentially take the lead. The Braves missed and grabbed the offensive board, but would not get a second shot up, as Frederick came up with a steal and found Weinman for a fast-break layup to make it 80-77.
- Bradley split a pair of free throws on its next trip and had two shots at a potential tying bucket, but both were off the mark. After a Valpo miss, the Braves again had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead before Weinman stepped up to take a big charge with 53 seconds to play to regain possession.
- Valpo ran the shot clock down before missing its effort, but White came up with a huge offensive board and was fouled with 29 seconds to go, hitting both free throws to push the lead to 82-78.
- An immediate 3-pointer on Bradley’s next trip cut Valpo’s edge to one point, but Frederick calmly stepped up and hit a pair from the line with 17 seconds to play to make it a three-point game. A foul sent the Braves to the line on their ensuing possession, where they hit the first and grabbed the offensive rebound on a miss of the second. But the potential tying putback was short out-of-bounds to Valpo.
- Frederick was fouled again with nine seconds remaining and once again hit both attempts from the stripe to put the game away.
