2021-2022 Valpo Women's Basketball

[DuneHwx]

43.8% from 3 today. That's more like it!

[justducky]

Any word on Gunn and is Pitts playing anywhere near her 19-20 level?

My preseason optimism is gone so what will our MVC record be? Do we have a shot at finding 7 wins again? What will it take to completely turn the confidence thing around?

[IndyValpo]

A win is a win but we have now beaten RPI #350 and #354 (NET #339 and #354) out of 356 schools.

Still a lot of work ahead...

[valpotx]

Women lost 74-62 at Missouri State, which is receiving votes.  I wouldn't have thought anything of the end result, until you look at the stats:

Valpo - 45.7% overall (21/46), 50% from 3 (11/22), 81.8% from FT (9/11), 10 Assists/21 Turnovers, and 27 Rebounds (2 O/25 D)
Mo St - 29.7% overall (19/64), 9.1% from 3 (2/22), 82.9% from FT (34/41), 6 Assists/12 Turnovers, and 47 Rebounds (23 O/24 D)

I stopped watching during the 2Q, but was it the lack of rebounding that led to the 33 to 14 foul disparity, and thus 41 FTs to 11 FTs?  With those shooting numbers, you would have thought it was a win, until you look at the rebounds & FTs. 

[Piledriver]

Coach Evans and an assistant both missed the 2 weekend games with Covid, along with 2 players. Weinman is out with a sprained ankle and didn't make the trip. The team was very thin and short-handed. Lots of illness and injuries.

The girls didn't play real well in either game, but hung around in both games.

[valpotx]

Great comeback at home against UNI, when down by 13 in the 4th quarter!  We win 60-58, even without Weinman, and hope that this turns the season around.

[justducky]

Great comeback at home against UNI, when down by 13 in the 4th quarter!  We win 60-58, even without Weinman, and hope that this turns the season around.

I didn't watch but the boxscore suggests some changes have been made. Earnest played 31 minutes with 9 points, Pitts 20 and 5, and Brown 39 while scoring 18 points.     Smaller minutes for some of our mainstays. Maybe this helped?

[Valpofamfan]

That women's game showed that we've adapted. 40 points in the paint, players driving instead of always looking for the 3. Mary Evans has helped them to adjust the offense, we shouldn't be doubting her coaching ability. However, this does mean some of the players look a bit lost in the new offense as dribble drives are not their forte. When Weinman gets healthy I doubt VanKempen will be starting or getting many minutes. I also couldn't help but notice it looked like we only had 8 active players in the stadium which I guess has to be covid related. Hopefully everyone stays healthy and we can play all games when scheduled.

[IndyValpo]

That women's game showed that we've adapted. 40 points in the paint, players driving instead of always looking for the 3. Mary Evans has helped them to adjust the offense, we shouldn't be doubting her coaching ability. However, this does mean some of the players look a bit lost in the new offense as dribble drives are not their forte. When Weinman gets healthy I doubt VanKempen will be starting or getting many minutes. I also couldn't help but notice it looked like we only had 8 active players in the stadium which I guess has to be covid related. Hopefully everyone stays healthy and we can play all games when scheduled.

8 in uniform 2 redshirts and 7 missing. I suggested before the season Brown would be a starter. Looks like she was earned it.

[Piledriver]

That women's game showed that we've adapted. 40 points in the paint, players driving instead of always looking for the 3. Mary Evans has helped them to adjust the offense, we shouldn't be doubting her coaching ability. However, this does mean some of the players look a bit lost in the new offense as dribble drives are not their forte. When Weinman gets healthy I doubt VanKempen will be starting or getting many minutes. I also couldn't help but notice it looked like we only had 8 active players in the stadium which I guess has to be covid related. Hopefully everyone stays healthy and we can play all games when scheduled.

The offense is the same. The coach has been out for a week with Covid. Nothing has changed as far as X's and O's. The big change is the lineup, necessitated by injury and illness.

[valpotx]

Congrats to the ladies on our first ever victory over Drake, 71-61!  It helps that their top scorers were out, but we are also without Weinman again.  We just hit our 3s for the first time this year.  Good win against a NET ranking of 46-48.

[IndyValpo]

Congrats to the ladies on our first ever victory over Drake, 71-61!  It helps that their top scorers were out, but we are also without Weinman again.  We just hit our 3s for the first time this year.  Good win against a NET ranking of 46-48.

Literally out of nowhere Morrison hits 7 threes

[valpotx]

I've never understood her shooting woes in prior seasons, or this season.  She has really good form on her shots, and doesn't miss badly when she misses.  I had figured that last season was her true ability.

[IndyValpo]

/quote]
Literally out of nowhere Morrison hits 7 threes

And Morrison does make a shot in the next game.

I will never understand Evans' reluctance to let the deep subs play. I am assuming we dressed 10. Down over 20 after three quarters she only plays Shannon the last 3 minutes and burns Beyer's red shirt to play the final 44 seconds. I think she is up to almost 2 minutes since she arrived mid year last season.

[Piledriver]

Beyer is not redshirting. Like Interrante and Johnston, she will never see the floor.


Sheehan has been out with Covid. Not ready to play, not in the rotation. Doesn't defend or handle the ball well enough to get on the court.

[vu72]

The substitute pattern is just a "that ain't working so let's throw something else out there" Last game--a win--Morrison plays 27 minutes and scores 21.  This game she plays 13 and get a zero. VanKempen continues to not show up yet gets plenty of minutes.  Frustrating.

[IndyValpo]

Beyer is not redshirting. Like Interrante and Johnston, she will never see the floor.


Sheehan has been out with Covid. Not ready to play, not in the rotation. Doesn't defend or handle the ball well enough to get on the court.

I am not suggesting they be part of the rotation. But when it is obvious we are going to lose why not let the subs play more than a few minutes.

[Piledriver]

"I am not suggesting they be part of the rotation. But when it is obvious we are going to lose why not let the subs play more than a few minutes."

Agreed. Of course, the VU women rallied from 13 down in the 4th quarter last weekend against Northern Iowa, and have had some other huge very late comeback wins in recent years, so I guess it's hard to know when to throw in the towel.

The 2 Valpo 6-footers in the starting lineup last night combined for 0 points, 2 rebounds, 0 blocks in 40 minutes. The 2 starting big girls for Illinois St. combined for 33 points, 17 rebounds and 6 blocks. It's a familiar story

You can't win without big players. The Valpo big girls are simply not very competitive.

[IndyValpo]

Agreed. Of course, the VU women rallied from 13 down in the 4th quarter last weekend against Northern Iowa, and have had some other huge very late comeback wins in recent years, so I guess it's hard to know when to throw in the towel.

The 2 Valpo 6-footers in the starting lineup last night combined for 0 points, 2 rebounds, 0 blocks in 40 minutes. The 2 starting big girls for Illinois St. combined for 33 points, 17 rebounds and 6 blocks. It's a familiar story

You can't win without big players. The Valpo big girls are simply not very competitive.

A fair point on comebacks but a coach has to be able to understand there comes a point when it isn't going to happen.

It is almost unfair to call our bigs big. Morrison was a small forward for her first two seasons and VanKampen is a wing as well.
Evans has hit the transfer portal pretty well you think they could find size there.

[valpotx]

Good win for the ladies on the road at Bradley, to get us to 5-12 (3-3).  Still playing well without Weinman, so that is a large positive.

[justducky]

Good win for the ladies on the road at Bradley, to get us to 5-12 (3-3).

Major mistake on my part that I didn't stay home and watch them. 

[Piledriver]

Both teams played without their leading scorer due to injury. The Beacons looked like they ran out of gas late with some girls logging big minutes on the road trip. Some tired legs on the floor. Morrison came up big in the last couple minutes after VU had blown a big lead. Weinman would have helped them a lot in that game.

Grace White was huge defensively. She was all over the place. Earnest had a double-double. They are a strong pairing at small forward.

The girls are 5-3 in their last 8 games (6 without Weinman), so credit to them. They have have battled back after a bad start to the year.

[justducky]

Grace White was huge defensively. She was all over the place. Earnest had a double-double. They are a strong pairing at small forward.

The girls are 5-3 in their last 8 games (6 without Weinman), so credit to them. They have have battled back after a bad start to the year.

I just went to my calendar crossing off men's UNI Wed and penciling in girl's ISUb for Fri 6:00. Maybe I will watch another guy's game this year and maybe not.

[justducky]

At 3-3 we have the best record for teams having played all 6 games. Several teams sitting at 3-1 or 1-2. Maybe this will help us later in the season? Also we have faced mostly the best in the Valley and that can't hurt either. I'm almost optimistic again as long as I don't think about the guys. 

[justducky]

Sycamores win 85-65. We were outplayed in every aspect of the game. ISU is a much better team than I was expecting.