The Loyola University New Orleans Women's Basketball teamed ended 2015 on Friday, welcoming DII Spring Hill College to The Den for a special Jesuit Basketball Spotlight game. The Wolf Pack would best the Badgers 71-53 to earn their 23rd-straight victory over the NCAA Division II team.
With the win, Loyola improves to 7-3 overall, while Spring Hill drops to 3-7 after the loss.
Sr. G Briana Oglesby (Baton Rouge, La./University Laboratory School) put the first points on the board, hitting a wide-open triple to put Loyola up 3-0 early in the first quarter. The Badgers quickly responded with a 7-0 run to jump out to the 7-3 advantage at the 7:23 mark. Down 14-10 with just 24 seconds remaining in the quarter, Jr. G Jackie Anderson(San Antonio, Texas/Antonian) drained a three pointer to cut the deficit to just one at 14-13. Armanee Broussard wasted no time matchingAnderson with a three of her own as time expired to extend the Spring Hill lead to 17-13 after the first 10 minutes of action.
A layup by Broussard brought the score to 20-13 at the 9:01 mark in the second quarter, before the Wolf Pack put up eight-straight points to take the lead back at 21-20 with just over five minutes to play. R-So. G Di'Mond Jackson (Baton Rouge, La./University Arkansas Little Rock)came off the bench and got two quick steals that led to Loyola buckets as the home team turned to their defense to keep the lead. Oglesby knocked down back-to-back triples to put the Wolf Pack up 28-24 with 3:36 to play before halftime. Loyola was able to keep up its smothering defense for the remainder of the half and the home team went into the locker room up 31-28.
The Wolf Pack started the third on an 8-2 run to extend the advantage to 40-30 with 6:19 remaining. Loyola maintained the double-digit lead for the remaining minutes and a layup by Jackson as time expired put the home team up 50-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Badgers found their stroke from beyond the arc to start the fourth, hitting back-to-back triples to cut the deficit to 52-46 with 8:12 to play.Oglesby answered with an and-one layup to stretch the lead back to double digits at 57-47 with 5:32 remaining. Loyola was able to keep a double-digit cushion for the remainder of the game and a rare three pointer by Sr. F Adrianne Sloboh (Simi Valley, Calif./Royal High School) ended the contest with Loyola earning the 71-53 victory.
Oglesby led all scorers with 16 points on 5-of-19 shooting. Andersonrecorded career highs in both points (10) and rebounds (nine), while Jr. GKylah Jones (Houston, Texas/Westfield) added 11 points in the victory.
For the Badgers, Leah Washington had 11 points on four-of-nine shooting from the floor. Camry Johnson grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with eight points on Friday.
Loyola has the rest of the year off, before welcoming Brenau University to The Den on January 2, 2016.
