TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State ushers in the 2026 calendar year with a New Year's Day matinee, as the Sycamores welcome Valparaiso to Hulman Center for a 2 p.m. tip.
 
Brendan King (play-by-play) and Landon Kleindorfer (analyst) will have the call on ESPN+, while John Sherman will have the radio call on WVIG-FM/105.5 The Legend.
 

Indiana State Women's Basketball vs. Valparaiso
Date	Thursday, January 1 | 2 p.m. ET
Location // Venue	Terre Haute, Ind. // Hulman Center (9,000)
Game Notes	Indiana State Notes // Valparaiso Notes
Live Stats	Live Stats Link
Watch	ESPN+
Listen	WVIG-FM/105.5 The Legend
Tickets	Adult - $9 // Youth $7
Gameday Offers	First Responders, Military, Veterans - 2 free tickets (offer must be claimed at Hulman Center Ticket Office)
Media Information	Indiana State Women's Basketball Media Center
Social Media	@IndStWBB // @IndStAthletics

 
Gameday Offers/Promotions
Thursday's game features a special ticket offer for Local Heroes Day. All first responders, military members and veterans can claim two free tickets for the game at the Hulman Center Ticket Office, with additional tickets available for purchase at $5.

Last Time Out
Three players scored in double-figures Monday night for Indiana State, but homestanding Illinois State led wire-to-wire in a 105-64 setback for the Sycamores inside CEFCU Arena.
 
Da'Naria Washington led the Blue and White with 12 points and seven rebounds, while Amerie Flowers added 10 points and eight boards. Tierney Kelsey was also in double-figures with 11, with Samiyah Briggs adding nine points and five rebounds.
 
Indiana State stayed within two possessions for the first quarter of the game, but things quickly went downhill from there. Illinois State outscored the Trees 32-10 in the second quarter to lead 56-28 at the break. Washington scored seven of her 12 points in the third quarter, but the result was well out of reach by that point.
 
Welcome Back
Indiana State graduate guard Da'Naria Washington made her return to the starting lineup in Monday's game against Illinois State and put together her best performance of the season to close out 2025.
 
Making her first start since November 19 at SIU Edwardsville, Washington finished with season highs of 12 points and seven rebounds against the Redbirds. Washington led the Sycamores in scoring and also added a team-high two steals.
 
Over her last four games dating back to the conference opener against Drake, Washington is averaging 8.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the field.
 
Debut In Blue
Indiana State redshirt junior guard Amaya Blake made her 2025-26 season debut in the Sycamores' last game against Illinois State, making the most of her limited minutes on the court against the Redbirds.
 
Blake finished with three points and one assist in four minutes of action, going 3-for-4 from the charity stripe in the closing minutes.
 
Camari's Career High
Indiana State junior forward Camariyana Tavares posted the best game of her Sycamore career in Indiana State's last outing at Illinois State.
 
Tavares finished with a career-high seven points along with four rebounds and two blocks in 16 minutes of action against the Redbirds. She shot 60 percent from the field (3-for-5), with her three field goals made also being a career-high.
 
Tavares' role has increased in the early stages of Missouri Valley Conference play, as she is averaging 5.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game in MVC play while playing 18.7 minutes per contest.
 
Posting Up
Indiana State sophomore forward Amerie Flowers has picked up her production in recent weeks for the Blue and White, culminating in Monday's 10-point, eight-rebound performance at Illinois State.
 
Flowers is averaging 8.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game over the last three contests despite averaging just over 18 minutes per game in that span. She had nine points on an efficient 4-for-7 shooting performance against No. 24/23 Michigan State at the Cherokee Invitational.
 
Top-25 Trees
Indiana State ranks in the top 25 nationally in a trio of statistical categories this season, after ranking near the bottom in nearly every stat during the 2024-25 campaign.
 
The Trees are currently ranked 11th in free throw attempts (24.3), 12th in bench points (31.6) and 19th in free throws made (16.4). Indiana State leads the Missouri Valley Conference in bench points, while ranking second in both free throws made and attempted.
 
On This Date
New Year's Day has been kind to Indiana State in program history, as the Sycamores own an 8-1 record in January 1 games.
 
The Trees are a perfect 6-0 in New Year's Day home games, with an average margin of victory of 12.5 points.
 
2001 – Bradley (W, 71-69)
2005 – at Illinois State (L, 73-82)
2006 – Southern Illinois (W, 74-61)
2009 – Drake (W, 50-38)
2011 – Bradley (W, 84-68)
2012 – Southern Illinois (W, 72-66)
2016 – Wichita State (W, 59-33)
2017 – at Southern Illinois (W, 68-53)
2021 – at Loyola Chicago (W, 63-48)
 
Valparaiso At A Glance
Valparaiso enters the new year in search of its first win of the 2025-26 season. The Beacons are 0-13 overall and 0-2 in MVC play following an 86-52 loss to Northern Iowa in their last contest.
 
Fiona Connolly leads Valparaiso with 12.2 points per game and is the only Beacon averaging double-figures this season. Allia von Schlegell and Milana Nenadic both average more than seven points per game, while Kamryn Winch leads the team with 5.8 rebounds per game. Mikayla Huffine adds a team-high 2.2 assists per game.
 
Courtney Boyd is in her first season as head coach at Valparaiso after spending the last two seasons as head coach at Quincy. Boyd has a 190-81 record in nine seasons as a head coach between Clarke, Quincy and Valparaiso, winning the 2023 NAIA National Championship at Clarke.
 
Series History Against Valparaiso
Indiana State is 12-9 all-time against Valparaiso, though the Trees are just 4-5 against the Beacons at home. Valpo swept the season series last year.
 
The Sycamores' last wins in the series came in the 2023-24 season, as Indiana State swept the season series that year (70-49 in Terre Haute, 70-65 in Valparaiso).
 
Last Meeting Against Illinois State (Feb. 23, 2025)
Deja Jones registered the first 20-10 game of her career inside the Athletics-Recreation Center. Unfortunately for Indiana State, it came in a 73-68 setback on the road to Valparaiso.
 
Jones finished with 20 points, a game-high 12 rebounds and five assists, while Savannah White added 13 points and eight rebounds. Keslyn Secrist and Bella Finnegan also finished in double-figures for the Blue and White with 11 and 10, respectively.
 
Indiana State jumped out to a strong start from behind the arc to build a five-point lead after the opening frame, but the Sycamores' success from 3-point range ended after the first. Valparaiso used an 11-2 run midway through the second quarter to take the lead, one which the Beacons held for a majority of the game. Finnegan and Davina Smith combined for 10 points in a three-minute span late in the third to pull the Trees level, with Jones and White keeping things on level terms from the free throw line early in the fourth. A late five-point swing for the home side proved costly for Indiana State, though, and Valpo converted from the free throw line down the stretch to narrowly defeat the Trees.
 
Up Next
Indiana State heads north to the Windy City for a Sunday afternoon bout with UIC. Tipoff from the Near West Side is set for 3 p.m.
 
Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on Sycamore Women's Basketball, visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media, including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from the both the App Store and the Google Play Store.