VALPARAISO | After scoring 62 points in the paint in their first two meetings against Milwaukee, the Valparaiso women's basketball team looked poised to have another big night in the post.

The Panthers had other plans as No. 9 Milwaukee came out in a zone defense that held Valparaiso to just 10 points in the paint and basically dared the Crusaders to shoot from the perimeter in the first round of the Horizon League women's basketball tournament at the Athletics-Recreation Center on Monday night.

The No. 8 Crusaders struggled from beyond the arc, knocking down just 9-of-34 3-pointers, as Milwaukee rolled to a 71-57 victory to advance to the quarterfinals against No. 1 Green Bay on Wednesday night.

"(Milwaukee) did a great job of correcting all their weaknesses from the last time we played them," Valparaiso coach Keith Freeman said. "We scored a significant number of points in the paint against them. It's to their credit that they made the changes they made."

Whitney Farris knocked down two early 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 15 points in her final collegiate game, but the Crusaders just couldn't get the shots to fall from long distance and had difficulty establishing a rhythm on offense.

"I felt like they just wanted it more," Farris said. "They came out real hard and I just feel like we didn't come out as hard as we could've with being at home."

Milwaukee carried an 11-point lead into the locker room, but the Crusaders fought back in the second half, getting to within 46-40 with 13:44 remaining and with possession of the ball. After Raegan Moore missed a layup, Milwaukee junior Ashley Imperiale scored the next five points and then freshman Sami Tucker scored six points to give the Panthers a 57-40 lead with just more than 11 minutes remaining. The Crusaders would never get the deficit to single digits again.

"We have talked as a team about making sure we stop the bleeding when another team goes on a run," Imperiale said. "When we get stops on our end; that carries over to our offense."

Farris led the Crusaders with six rebounds and played her final game along with senior teammates Lauren Kenney, Sylwia Zabielewicz and Chesterton product Kelly Peller. 

"I'm really proud of Whitney," Freeman said. "She's probably played as much as anyone I've ever coached and I've probably been on her butt about as much as anyone I've ever coached. This year, I didn't have to do that. She really showed a lot of character this year and tried to do things on a day-to-day basis to make this team successful. I'm proud of her for that."

Laura Richards played a team-high 32 minutes on Monday night and finished the season with more minutes than any other player on the roster. The freshman finished with four assists and a blocked shot.

"It definitely hurts to lose like this," Richards said. "It makes me want to do so much better next season. It just gives me this drive to get better, but right now, it just sucks."

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Horizon Tournament

First round

No. 9 Milwaukee 71, No. 8 Valparaiso 57

Whitney Farris scored 15 points to lead the Crusaders in her final collegiate game.

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