by A perfect month. The best pre-conference record in program history. A stat line by a single player unmatched since 2008, and a career-high scoring performance by another player. A seven-game winning streak to carry into the new year. That and more spawned out of the performance of the Valpo women’s basketball team Monday night in Charleston, Ill., as the Brown and Gold closed the 2019 calendar year with a 78-66 victory over Eastern Illinois.
How It Happened
- Valpo trailed for just 48 seconds on Monday, as Eastern Illinois connected on the game’s first basket after both teams went scoreless for the opening three minutes. Two possessions later, sophomore Shay Frederick (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville) drained a 3-pointer to give Valpo the lead.
- Valpo’s lead was just one point with two minutes remaining in the opening quarter before it reeled off eight straight to close the period. Senior Grace Hales (Cromwell, Ind./Westview) and junior Marlee Profitt (Medina, Ohio/Highland) started the spurt with back-to-back inside baskets, while sophomore Ilysse Pitts (Aurora, Ill./Montini Catholic) knocked down a pair of free throws with 24 seconds to play.
- Valpo then got a stop on a shot with nine seconds to play in the quarter and raced the ball upcourt. Pitts got it to junior Grace White (Redby, Minn./Red Lake [Denver]) on the right wing, and despite being covered up, White drilled an 18-footer as time expired to cap the eight-point spurt and give Valpo a 19-10 advantage at the end of the opening period.
- The story of the second quarter was Valpo’s response every time the Panthers cut the lead into single digits. Valpo earned its first double-digit lead on a triple by Hales just 15 seconds into the quarter.
- EIU converted a 3-point play with 8:37 to play in the half to make it a 22-15 game, but Valpo replied immediately with another 3-pointer – this one courtesy of White to push the lead back to 10.
- A 7-0 run for the Panthers cut Valpo’s lead to 32-24 with 4:09 to play in the half, but this time, it was Valpo’s inside play which extended the advantage back into double figures. On consecutive possessions, White and sophomore Carie Weinman (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South [Denver]) hit Profitt for layups in the paint to make it a 12-point game.
- EIU looked like it had cut its deficit into single digits at halftime as it scored off a turnover in the waning seconds of the half, but Frederick had other ideas, rushing the ball forward and unloading a 35-footer just before the buzzer that found the basket to make it 44-32 Valpo at intermission.
- The first six minutes of the third quarter were not kind to Valpo, as Eastern Illinois went on a 15-3 run over that span to tie the game at 47 apiece. The Brown and Gold were 0-for-7 from the floor and committed three turnovers in that stretch.
- But the final four minutes of the quarter proved to be the antithesis of the first six and would propel Valpo to victory. The Crusaders had six possessions in the final four minutes and went 5-for-5 from 3-point range with a turnover on those trips down the court. Pitts got the party started with a triple, and then Hales and junior Addison Stoller (Cissna Park, Ill./Cissna Park) alternated the final four 3-pointers of the period – Stoller connecting on the last one in the final seconds of the quarter.
- Meanwhile, while the offense couldn’t miss, the defense kept EIU completely off the board as well, as Valpo ended the period on a 15-0 run to take a 62-47 lead into the fourth.
- The run eventually extended to 21-0, as White scored the first four points of the fourth quarter and then hit junior Caitlin Morrison (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) on the break for a basket to give Valpo a 68-47 lead.
- In the end, Valpo held EIU without a point for a stretch of 8:18 spanning the two quarters, and Valpo’s lead would not fall under the final margin the rest of the way.
Inside the Game
- White also handed out a career-best seven assists, and chipped in two steals and two blocked shots as well. She was the first Valpo player to record at least 20 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists since Agnieszka Kulaga posted 20 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in an overtime win over Green Bay in January 2008.
- While Hales and White were the only two in double figures in the scoring column, Monday’s win was a total team effort. All eight players who played scored – the second straight game every player who has taken the court has found the basket – and seven of those players tallied at least five points.
