Leathernecks Win at Home, Defeat Valpo 83-67

By Press release submission

Dec 17, 2022

Leatherneck women's basketball was in action Friday night (Dec. 9), hosting the Valparaiso Beacons at Western Hall in a game that finished as an 83-67 Western Illinois victory. WIU moves to 3-6 on the season with a matchup against SIUE slated for Sunday afternoon at Western Hall.

"Overall I thought it was a good team win," head coach JD Gravina said. "We needed it too. It almost starts to get in your head and get you down when you're looking at the schedule and there's not as many wins as you'd like. Valpo's a team that has some good quality wins and I think we defended really well on their dribble drive action and played a little bit better offensively, especially in the first half.

"We played really hard at SEMO and so I think the players are really just trying to stick with it, stick with each other, have fun and do all those things that you want to try and get out of being a college basketball player. When you do that sometimes it translates into winning," Gravina added.

Western deployed the same starting five that faced SEMO two nights ago and got off to a fast start. After Valpo brought the game to an 11-8 WIU lead after a layup with 5:07 in the quarter, Western went on a quick 10-2 run highlighted by an Anna Deets three pointer that was followed by an Alissa Dins block and Elizabeth Lutz fast break layup to give Western a double-digit lead. After one it was Leathernecks 27, Beacons 16.

WIU opened the second period of action on an 11-3 run that saw five different players score. Mallory McDermott drained a three pointer on the first possession of the quarter as Western built a 19-point advantage with 6:10 remaining in the half. Western's defense came up big down the stretch, forcing five turnovers in the final parts of a quarter that saw the Beacons score just 12 points; WIU led 50-28 at half.

The Leathernecks built their biggest lead of the game at 53-28 early in the second half but Valparaiso wouldn't go down easy, however, utilizing a strong third quarter that saw the team shoot 47% from the field to cut into the Leatherneck lead. Both teams would score 15 apiece in the final frame as Western Illinois cruised to an 83-67 victory.

Jada Thorpe led all scorers with 19 points, finishing 11-15 at the line while also grabbing six rebounds, dishing out four assists and tying a season-high with four steals. Elizabeth Lutz set a new season high with 17 points and a 10-12 performance at the line, also finishing with five rebounds, three assists and four steals. Anna Deets' strong shooting continued in her second-consecutive start, finishing with 15 points and six rebounds on 4-8 shooting from the field and 3-6 from deep. Addi Brownfield scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds in 26 minutes of action, while Zareia Chevre combined six points with six rebounds and a block.

"A lot of people played well. Anna Deets with six rebounds again and continued to bring some toughness for us, I thought when Mallory McDermott came in she played pretty well. Zareia Chevre played well when she was in, I thought she played good help defense which was important for us," Coach Gravina said. "Valparaiso didn't have a lot of post players so we were playing more guards and I think Addi took advantage of that by knocking down some shots for us which is always helps and I thought she played pretty well defensively too."

As a team the Leathernecks shot 24-57 (42.1%) from the field and 28-37 (75.7%) from the line while holding the Valparaiso offense to just 6-23 shooting from deep and winning the battle on the glass, 37-33. Western's defense forced 22 Beacon turnovers thanks to 12 steals and converted that into 18 points, while scoring 15 points on the break and 30 in the paint. The bench scored 18 points.

Western Illinois women's basketball is back in action this Sunday (Dec. 11), hosting SIUE at Western Hall. Tip off is scheduled for 2 p.m.