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Valparaiso (0-1, 0-0 MVC)

Game #2 – November 8, 2025 – noon CT

at Detroit Mercy (0-0, 0-0 Horizon)

Calihan Hall (7,917) – Detroit, Mich.

Next Up in Valpo Basketball: The Valpo women’s basketball team continues a stretch of three consecutive road games to open the 2025-26 campaign on Saturday afternoon, as it takes on an old conference foe in Detroit Mercy.

Previously: The Beacons were within six points at halftime of their season opener Tuesday at DePaul, but the host Blue Demons pulled away in the second half for a 92-54 victory. Fiona Connolly paced Valpo with a career-best 12 points.

Following Valpo Basketball: Video: ESPN+

Links for live coverage: Available via ValpoAthletics.com

Head Coach Courtney Boyd (0-1 at Valpo, 1st season; 190-69 [.734] overall, 9th season): Courtney Boyd was named the ninth head coach of the Valparaiso University women’s basketball program on Friday, 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: Detroit Mercy holds a 17-13 advantage in the all-time series, including a 9-6 lead in games played at Calihan Hall. The two programs matched up last season at the ARC and played 10 extra minutes, with the Titans eventually prevailing 79-71 in double overtime. The last time Valpo traveled to Calihan Hall, it came away with a 77-58 victory in December 2019.

@ValpoWBB…

…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).

…looking back at last year

– Valpo finished last season with a 13-19 overall record and went 9-11 in MVC play to finish in eighth place.

– Among the Beacons’ 13 victories were a thrilling rally from a 20-point deficit for a home win over Drake which entered the game ranked 69th in NET, the program’s highest-ranked win since a win over #54 UNI in 2021-22.

– Leah Earnest was tabbed a First Team All-MVC honoree as she concluded a decorated career that saw her finish first in program history in career rebounds and third in career scoring.

– The 2024-25 Beacons hit 245 3-pointers, third-most in a single season in program history, and tallied 314 steals, seventh on the program’s single-season chart and the most since 2001-02.

…at DePaul

– Valpo led 8-6 just over three minutes into the game thanks to five early points from Mor Shabtai and a 3-pointer by Kayla Sullivan.

– An 8-0 run gave the Blue Demons the lead for good, but the Beacons closed to within 22-20 at the end of the first quarter.

– DePaul reeled off nine straight points over the opening 2:30 of the second quarter to extend its lead to double figures, but Valpo eventually erased most of that deficit and only trailed 38-32 at halftime.

– DePaul scored eight points within one minute on its first three trips of the third quarter to push its lead to 46-32. The margin remained right around that 14-point mark for most of the period, until the Blue Demons scored the final eight points of the period to make it 63-41 with 10 minutes to play.

– While the Beacons scored on each of their first three trips of the fourth quarter, DePaul connected on its first six shots of the period to prevent Valpo from cutting into the lead.

– Valpo shot just 36.7% (18-of-49) from the field, while DePaul hit at a 44.3% (39-of-88) clip. The Blue Demons grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and were a +25 in the turnover department, committing just 10 miscues while forcing 35 Valpo turnovers.

– Fiona Connolly paced Valpo with 12 points.

– Eight of Valpo’s newcomers saw action in the season’s first game, with Mikayla Huffine and Kamryn Winch debuting in the starting five – the latter grabbing a team-best 11 rebounds.

– Sophomore Kylie Waytashek also made her first start in a Beacon uniform.

…looking ahead

– Valpo stays on the road as the season gets going, traveling to take on a nationally-ranked Iowa State team Nov. 12.

– The Beacons’ first home game is Sunday, Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. against Milwaukee.

…on the road 

– Tuesday’s game is the second of six nonconference true road games for the Beacons, who will play 10 road games in MVC play as well.

– Valpo is currently 0-1 in true road games.

– Valpo will play 18 games in all away from home, as it has a pair of neutral-site games in Cleveland.

– Last season’s squad posted a 3-11 mark in true road games.

@Detroit_WBB

– Saturday will be Detroit Mercy’s first regular season game.

– The Titans posted a 15-15 overall record last season and went 8-12 in Horizon League play.

– UDM was picked to finish seventh in the Horizon League preseason poll this year, while Alliyah McQueen – who averaged 13.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game a season ago – was a Preseason First Team All-HL selection.

Career Bests

– Of Valpo’s five players with previous D-I experience who played in the season opener Tuesday, three of them set career highs in the scoring department.

– Leading the way was Fiona Connolly with a team-high 12 points, topping her previous best of 10 points last season against Illinois State.

– With eight points, Mor Shabtai edged past her previous best of seven points last season against Goshen.

– Milana Nenadic doubled her previous career best of four points, coming off the bench with eight points.

– Nenadic also tripled her previous career best in the rebounding department by grabbing six boards, while Kamryn Winch also set a career high with a team-best 11 boards.

Old Friend Alert

– Saturday marks one of four matchups for Valpo in nonconference play against a former league opponent, as it shared membership in the Horizon League with Detroit Mercy from 2007-17.

– The Beacons opened the season against DePaul, which they shared conference affiliation in the North Star Conference with from 1987-91.

– Later in the nonconference slate, Valpo will host Milwaukee and play at Cleveland State, both of which were in the Horizon League for the entirety of Valpo’s 10-year tenure as a league member.

Matchup of First-Year Coaches

– Saturday will be the second straight game to open the season that first-year head coach Courtney Boyd is coaching against a counterpart in their first year as head coach as well, as Kiefer Haffey is in his first season heading the UDM program.

– DePaul head coach Jill Pizzotti coached her first game as permanent head coach against the Beacons on Tuesday, although she led the Blue Demons as interim head coach for the entire 2024-25 campaign.

– Later in the nonconference, Boyd and the Beacons face off against Western Michigan and their first-year head coach, Kate Achter – notably, Achter took the WMU job after spending the previous three years heading the UDM program.

Who’s Back

– The Beacons return seven players from their 2024-25 squad for the 2025-26 campaign.

– While seven players are back for another season in the Brown and Gold, Valpo has to replace its four leading scorers as it lost 73.8% of its scoring and 66.9% of its rebounding from last season’s team.

– A pair of seniors who played big roles as incoming transfers last season highlight the group of returnees: Maci Rhoades and Fiona Connolly.

– Raeven Raye-Redmond, Mor Shabtai, Kayla Preston, Kylie Waytashek and Bella Swedlund round out the returning group.

Who’s New

– Boyd is blending a diverse group of nine newcomers with the seven returnees to fill out the 16-player roster. 

– The group of newcomers includes four true freshmen and five transfers – one Division I, two Division II and two junior college.

– Senior Mikayla Huffine spent the last two years playing under Boyd’s tutelage at Quincy.

– A pair of redshirt junior posts enter their first season as Beacons: Milana Nenadic (Idaho State/Maine) and Kamryn Winch (Maryville).

– Valpo also brings in junior college transfers Kayla Sullivan (State Fair C.C.) and Kennedy Sproule (Bay College).

– Four freshmen will be getting their first taste of college basketball this year: Isabella Anderson, Nuala Connolly, Autumn Dibb and Allia von Schlegell.

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).