Valparaiso is 0-5 against Penn since December of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit  on Saturday. The Valparaiso Vikings will be home for the holidays to greet  the Penn Kingsmen at 6:30  p.m. Both teams are coming into the  contest red-hot, with Valparaiso sitting on  seven straight  wins and Penn on three.
 Valparaiso has made a habit of sweeping their opponents off the court, having now won seven  games by 21  points or more this season. They put the hurt on Bowman Academy with a sharp  62-41 victory on Saturday. 62 seems to be a good number for Valparaiso as the  team scooped up a  victory with the same number of  points in their previous game.
 Valparaiso's victory was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was   Lillian Barnes, who  scored 13 points along with six  steals and five  assists. The  matchup was  Barnes' seventh in a row with at least ten points. Another player making a difference was  Becca Gerdt, who  scored 14 points.
 Meanwhile, Penn earned a  38-26 victory over Goshen  on Saturday.
 Penn got their  win on the backs of several key players, but it was  Anna McCullough out in front who  scored 12 points. The team also got some help courtesy of  Jessa Troy, who  scored three points along with six  steals.
 Valparaiso pushed their record up to 10-2 with that  victory, which was their fourth straight  at home. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.0 points per game. As for Penn, they are  on a roll lately: they've  won seven of their last eight matches,  which provided a nice bump to their 10-4 record this season.
 Saturday's  game is shaping up to be a scrappy  match:  Valparaiso  have been smashing the glass this season,  having  only  averaged 26.2  rebounds per game. However, it's not like Penn struggles in that department as   they've been averaging  only 24.9  rebounds per game. Given Valparaiso's sizeable advantage in that area, Penn will need to find a way to close that gap.
 Valparaiso suffered a grim  56-36 defeat to Penn  when the teams last played  back in December of 2022. Will Valparaiso have more luck at home instead of on the road?  Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.