Box Score The No. 25 Wolf Pack pulled away early in Saturday's 30-point win over the Stillman College Tigers
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans women's basketball team completed the weekend sweep of Stillman College Saturday, defeating the Tigers 68-38 in The Den.
The 25th-ranked Wolf Pack is now 7-1 overall and 2-1 in Southern States Athletic Conference play, while Stillman dropped to 2-6 overall and 2-5 in the SSAC.
It took a couple of minutes before the Wolf Pack got on the board, but their first four baskets came from four different players. Jazmene McMillan was the fourth Loyola player to score, giving her team a 9-6 lead seven minutes into the game, then she hit another 3-pointer 45 seconds later to push the score to 12-6.
Morgan Hervey made a couple of free throws and McMillan converted a steal into a score in the final minute to take a 16-6 lead into the second quarter.
Loyola continued to hold its double-digit lead in the second, as the Wolf Pack answered every Stillman made shot. The Tigers only made consecutive shots once in the quarter, and the Wolf Pack outscored Stillman 24-13.
Kennedy Hansberry made two 3-pointers, giving her team the 20-12 lead four minutes into the second and a 31-18 advantage with three minutes left. Chelsea Gray added back-to-back buckets in the final minute, and Tay Cannon hit a buzzer-beater to send Loyola into halftime with a 40-19 lead.
The third quarter was even between the two, with Loyola winning the frame 15-14 to maintain the lead. Tay Cannon and Hansberry got the scoring going early in the quarter, but neither team found the bottom of the basket in the final 1:58. Tera Snell had two 3-pointers in the third to help keep the Pack comfortably ahead.
Leading 55-33 with 10 minutes to play, the Wolf Pack defense didn't allow a Stillman point until the 4:37 mark of the fourth quarter. By that point, the Wolf Pack led by 27, 60-33. The Tigers only scored five points in the fourth, as Loyola finished the game by scoring the game's final eight of 10 points.
The homestand continues Tuesday for Loyola, as William Carey comes to The Den for a 5:30 p.m. contest. The Wolf Pack will also host a pair of games against Mobile next weekend.
Wolf Pack Head Coach Kellie Kennedy
"I thought our team fought. We shot the ball pretty well from 2 and 3, but we need to do better at the free-throw line moving forward. We turned the ball over too much, and some of that is the lineups that we're playing. We're trying to play a lot of people because of conditioning and those things. We're missing people still and we're just trying to get in that groove. We're just not there yet. We're making a lot of mistakes that typically at the end of January we're not making. At this point, we probably would have been at 18 or so games, but right now we're sitting at eight. The fact that we're at the end of January and we've only played eight games is different. We just have to continue to try and figure it out, work hard, and play through things."
Pack Facts
Stillman's 38 points were the lowest an opponent has scored since Loyola's 88-36 season-opening victory over the University of the Virgin Islands on Nov. 3, 2019.
Chelsea Gray finished one point shy of a double-double, putting up nine points, 10 rebounds, and three assists. This marks the fourth time this season, and the second-straight game, in which Gray has grabbed a career-high 10 boards.
Kennedy Hansberry led all scorers with 14 points while adding six rebounds, four assists, and a steal. She also went 3-4 from behind the 3-point arc, setting a new career-best for made triples in a game.
Jazmene McMillan was the other Wolf Pack player in double figures, scoring 10 points while nabbing a career-high three steals.
Loyola has dominated the all-time series with Stillman, owning an 8-0 record against the Tigers since they entered the SSAC in 2018.
Today's win also matches the Wolf Pack's largest victory margin over Stillman. Loyola defeated the Tigers 92-62 on February 6, 2020.
You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.
