(Montgomery, Ala.) The Loyola University New Orleans women's basketball team took down Blue Mountain College 92-77 this afternoon in the semifinals of the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Tournament. With this win the Wolf Pack moves on to the finals to face the winner of Bethel University and Martin-Methodist College, and also earned a berth to the NAIA National Championships in Independence, Missouri from March 18-24.
Both teams struggled from the field to begin the game, with Blue Mountain's Kristen Millewski knocking down the first basket of the game with 17:19 to go in the first. Loyola would then go on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes, beginning with a deep three-pointer by senior Megan Whittaker off an assist by junior Adrianne Sloboh. Senior Rebekah Greer would then grab a rebound at the other end of the court and drive in for a layup, followed by a long two-point jumper by Neely and a second chance basket by sophomore Meghan Temple to bring the Pack up 9-4 with 14:40 remaining in the half. Blue Mountain would remain on the heels of the Pack, cutting the deficit to two (13-11) off a deep three by Millewski with 10:45 to go.
With just over 10 minutes to go in the first, Temple would block back-to-back shots by Madison McCreless, leading to a floater by Janeicia Neely at the opposite end of the court. The Toppers would respond with a three by Bryana Davis, going ahead for the first time since the start of the game (16-15). Loyola and Blue Mountain would exchange leads two more times over the course of the next minute, but a three and an old fashioned three-point play by Briana Oglesby brought the Pack back up by seven (25-18) with seven minutes left in the first. The Toppers cut the deficit to three with six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the half, but Whittaker would knock down a pair of three-pointers to extend the lead to 10 (34-34) with five minutes to go in the first. Loyola continued to drain shots from beyond the arc, with Oglesby adding two and Whittaker knocking down one before the end of the half. The Pack would enter halftime with a 48-39 advantage.
Three-pointers continued to play a part for both teams in the second half. Gonzalez would hit a quick three off a dish from Neely with 17:40 left in the game, and roughly two minutes later senior Rebekah Greer would drain a three from the right corner, leading to a 54-41 Wolf Pack advantage. Loyola would go up by as much as 20 with 13 minutes remaining, but Prince and Millewski would hit back-to-back three-pointers to help the Toppers attempt a comeback. Unnecessary fouls hurt the Toppers chance for a comeback, with Loyola going into the bonus with 12:32 left to play, but Millewski converted two more shots from beyond the arc to bring the Toppers within 13 with less than nine minutes to go. The Wolf Pack responded to every offensive threat by the Toppers and would remain on top by double-digits for the remainder of the game.
Neely finished the day with 23 points, going 9-of-15 from the field, while dishing out five assists. Gonzalez and Whittaker each recorded 15 points in the win, with Whittaker converting five shots from downtown and Gonzalez knocking down three. Temple and Oglesby added 14 points apiece. Oglesby went 5-of-8 from the field and drained a trio of three-pointers, while Temple converted six of her 10 shots from the field and finished with a game-high 12 rebounds. This marks Temple's 11th double-double of the season.
The Wolf Pack (26-6, 15-3 SSAC) shot a blistering 50% from the field against the Toppers and drained 12 three-pointers on the day. The Pack outrebounded Blue Mountain 41 to 25, grabbing 12 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 12 second chance points. Loyola's bench also outscored the Toppers bench 31 to 13.
Bryana Davis paced Blue Mountain on offense, tallying 23 points on 8-of-15 shooting. She also converted all eight of her shots from the charity stripe. Milewski added 19 points, 15 of which came from beyond the arc, while Prince added 14. McCreless led the defense with seven boards on the day.
The Wolf Pack will face the winner of No. 1 seed Bethel and No. 4 seed Martin-Methodist tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the championship game. The Wildcats and Redhawks play tonight at 5:30 p.m. Loyola fell to Bethel both on the road and at home this season, but defeated Martin-Methodist 80-71 on January 9 in The Den.
For a full schedule of the SSAC tournament and information on how to watch the games live, click the following link :
http://www.ssacsports.com/f/2014-15_Champ_Info/SSAC_Basketball_Championships.php.
