Beacons Fall to Evansville Thursday
Allia von Schlegell (Downers Grove, Ill./Nazareth Academy) continued her strong scoring run in MVC play with a team-high 16 points Thursday, while Mikayla Huffine (Rockford, Ill./Rockford Lutheran [Quincy/Iowa Western C.C.]) had her highest-scoring game of the season as the Valpo women’s basketball team fell to Evansville on Girls & Women in Sports night at the ARC Thursday, 83-59.
How It Happened
– After Evansville scored mere seconds into the game right off the opening tip, Valpo held the Purple Aces scoreless for a stretch of over four minutes, going on an 8-0 run to take an 8-2 lead.
– Evansville came back to even the score at 12-12 with 2:27 to play in the quarter before von Schlegell scored five in a row to restore the lead. Valpo’s edge was 17-14 at the end of the first period.
– Back-to-back triples by von Schlegell and Milana Nenadic (Kitchener, Ontario/Cameron Heights [Idaho State/Maine]) had the Beacons ahead 23-18 with 8:53 to play in the opening half.
– The Purple Aces went on a 16-3 run over the next four-plus minutes to pull in front, 34-26.
– Huffine and Kayla Sullivan (St. Louis, Mo./Lutheran North [State Fair C.C.]) had back-to-back baskets to make it a four-point game, but Evansville scored the final five points of the half to lead 39-30 at intermission.
– The Purple Aces scored on each of their first five possessions of the third quarter to double their lead within the opening 2:29, extending to a 50-32 lead.
– Evansville led 69-40 at the end of the third quarter and Valpo got no closer than the final margin in the fourth period.
Inside the Game
– von Schlegell finished with a team-best 16 points, including three 3-pointers — her 10th game with at least three triples this season.
– The freshman has now tallied 15 or more points 10 times this year, just two efforts shy of Dani Franklin’s total of 12 games with 15+ points as a freshman in 2014-15.
– Nenadic scored in double figures for the seventh time this year with 11 points, including three 3-pointers to tie a career best.
– Huffine came up just short of making it three Beacons in double figures, scoring a season-best nine points on 4-of-5 shooting. The senior also paced Valpo with five assists while committing just two turnovers.
– Autumn Dibb (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) had a season-best eight rebounds to lead Valpo on the glass, while Kennedy Sproule (Niverville, Manitoba/Churchill [Bay College]) tallied a season-high three steals to tie for game-high honors.
– Led by Sproule’s three steals, the Beacons racked up a season-best 10 steals as a team.
– Valpo hit at a 36.7% clip from the field Thursday and was 8-of-29 from 3-point range, while Evansville was 14-of-29 from deep as part of a night when it shot 47.6% overall.
– The Beacons held a 26-24 advantage in points in the paint, their first time having the edge in that department this season.
Next Up
Valpo (0-23, 0-12 MVC) remains home Saturday afternoon as it welcomes Southern Illinois to the ARC at 1 p.m. It will be the program’s annual Pink Game for cancer awareness, with cancer warriors and survivors being honored at halftime.