by The Valpo women’s basketball team faced its second Big Ten foe in the season’s first four games on Thursday evening as it traveled to Northwestern. The Brown and Gold put together a game effort against the WNIT finalists from last season, but a big second-quarter deficit was too much to overcome as the Wildcats earned a 69-48 victory. Junior Grace White (Redby, Minn./Red Lake [Denver]) led Valpo with 15 points, while redshirt junior Marlee Profitt (Medina, Ohio/Highland) matched her career high against a Division I opponent in just her second game back from injury.
How It Happened
- Northwestern scored the game’s first five points inside of the first minute, but Valpo prevented the Wildcats from pulling away quickly, keeping them off the board for the next two minutes. Senior Grace Hales (Cromwell, Ind./Westview) got Valpo on the board with a triple 2:53 into the game.
- The Wildcats pulled out to a 13-4 lead halfway through the opening quarter, but White scored on back-to-back possessions, the latter a 3-pointer, to make it a 13-9 game with 4:08 to play in the period.
- Sophomores Shay Frederick (Greenville, Wis./Hortonville) and Ilysse Pitts (Aurora, Ill./Montini Catholic) each connected on a 3-pointer in the final two minutes of the first quarter as Valpo was within 20-15 at the end of the opening period.
- Valpo struggled offensively in the second quarter, scoring just three points on 1-of-8 shooting from the field while turning the ball over eight times. The Brown and Gold held Northwestern to 15 points in the period, but it was still enough for the Wildcats to pull out to a 35-18 halftime lead.
- Valpo got the ball inside in the third quarter, scoring five baskets in the paint in a span of seven-plus minutes in the period. The Brown and Gold were within 15-13 of Northwestern for that 10-minute segment, one game after the Wildcats outscored Duke 29-4 in the third quarter.
- With the score 50-31 at the end of three, Northwestern started the final period on a 12-0 spurt over the opening four-plus minutes. But Valpo fought until the final horn, outscoring the Wildcats 17-7 over the game’s final 5:18.
