NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The 15th-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack women’s basketball team put together another dominant performance on Saturday, taking down Southern States Athletic Conference foe Thomas University, 83-49, in The Den.
It was Loyola’s 13th win in a row, and it moved its record to 16-1 overall and 10-0 in league play.
The Pack will hit the road next week for another SSAC game, taking on Faulkner at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday in Montgomery, Alabama.
Sydni Tangle hit a 3-pointer and assisted a Sandra Cannady score to give Loyola an early 5-0 lead, however, the Night Hawks were able to take an 11-5 advantage five minutes into the game. Cannady ended the scoring drought with a 3, and a steal by Cannady led to Lizzy Ratcliff cutting it to 11-10 with a fastbreak score. Bria McClure gave the Pack the lead again with one from long-range, then Caitlin Travis completed the 10-0 run with a jumper, 15-11. Loyola would go on to take a 20-17 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
Travis got the scoring started with a 3 for the Wolf Pack in the second quarter, which was followed by a steal-and-score by Ratcliff, 25-19. Thomas contributed the next seven points for Loyola, including two 3-pointers, and Jada Farrell and Alissa O’Dell totaled the next four points to extend the score to 36-19 with less than four minutes until halftime. Ratcliff and O’Dell scored to give Loyola a 20-0 run that brought the score to 40-19 before Thomas made a free throw in the closing seconds of the first half.
The Wolf Pack started the second half with scores from O’Dell, Ratcliff, and Tangle. However, the Night Hawks got going on the offensive end, keeping the Loyola lead at 20, 44-24. Then, triples from Ratcliff and Thomas, along with another Ratcliff bucket, put the Pack up 53-27 with six minutes left in the third frame. In the final minutes of the third quarter, Loyola continued to score with a jumper from Alexis Babineaux and treys from Tangle and Libby Thompson, extending the lead to 67-34.
The Pack stayed strong on both ends of the floor in the final frame. Jada Washington, Deniya Thornton, and Morgan Hervey each scored in the final quarter, helping Loyola secure an 83-49 conference victory over Thomas University.
Pack Facts
- Loyola has now won its last seven games by double digits.
- This was also the Pack’s 10th game this season holding an opponent under 60 points, with the team winning nine of those 10 games.
- Against Thomas, 13 different Wolf Pack players scored at least one point, tying a season high. Loyola has had at least 10 players score a point nine times this season, and in five of the last six games.
- Lizzy Ratcliff had her best scoring game of the new year, putting up a team-high 13 and three steals plus three rebounds and two assists. Ratcliff made six shots out of seven attempts to go 85.7% from the field, her best percentage of the season.
- The Wolf Pack assisted on 23 of 31 made baskets, marking the sixth time the team has logged at least 20 assists this season.
- Taylor Thomas dished out a game-high five assists, while Sydni Tangle, Sandra Cannady, and Bria McClure each had four dimes.
- Thomas also had 10 points while hitting three shots from beyond the arc.
- Caitlin Travis notched her second double-digit scoring effort of the season, hitting 4-of-5 from the field for 10 points.
- Alissa O’Dell and Morgan Hervey each grabbed eight rebounds to lead the team, with Hervey having eight boards in nine minutes.
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