Box Score The Wolf Pack women's basketball ended its month-long hiatus with a road win at Talladega Saturday afternoon, improving their Southern States Athletic Conference record to 3-1
TALLADEGA, Ala. – Battling back-and-forth with the Talladega Lady Tornadoes, and even trailing at halftime, the Loyola Wolf Pack women's basketball team used a strong finish in Saturday's Southern States Athletic Conference contest to earn the road win, 81-77. The win moved Loyola to 3-1 league play and 8-3 overall, as the Pack is set to host a pair of conference games this Thursday and Saturday against Stillman and Blue Mountain.
First, Loyola will welcome Stillman College to New Orleans for a 5:30 p.m. matchup at Tulane's Devlin Fieldhouse Thursday, then it'll play the Lady Toppers on Saturday at noon in The Den.
After Talladega scored the game's first two points, Loyola went on an 11-4 run to take an early lead in the contest. Sandra Cannady converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, and Tera Snell found Sydni Tangle slashing through the lane for an easy lay-up to put the Pack up 6-2. Kennedy Hansberry added a 3-pointer and Liz Critton got on the board to make it a 16-8 lead with a couple of minutes left in the opening frame. The Tornadoes tacked on a couple of scores to close the quarter, though, as they trailed Loyola 17-13 after the first 10 minutes of play.
Talladega tied the game twice in the early going of the second quarter, but Hansberry was able to put the Wolf Pack back ahead both times through the first three and a half minutes. The Lady Tornadoes, however, were able to jump back ahead before extending the lead to six, but back-to-back scores from Taylor Thomas and Cannady and a 3-pointer by Tangle made it a 30-29 Talladega advantage with 90 seconds until halftime. Thomas' 3 briefly gave Loyola a lead late in the half, but Talladega would go into the locker room up 36-34.
The Wolf Pack used a 22-point third quarter to retake the lead, outscoring Talladega 22-17 in the frame to enter the fourth up 56-53. Thomas immediately put Loyola ahead with a 3-pointer in the opening minute, then two made shots by Tangle and free throws by Critton made it a 43-41 Loyola lead. Hansberry and MG Lymon hit long-range shots, and a score by Cannady made it an eight-point Wolf Pack advantage, 51-43, but the Lady Tornadoes fought back to cut it to a three-point ballgame with 10 minutes left.
Loyola maintained its control in the fourth quarter, holding at least a six-point lead the majority of the frame. Kate Petrovic started the scoring with a 3, then Tangle and Thomas each saw the ball go through the hoop before Hansberry scored four straight shots for the Wolf Pack. That extended their lead to 71-65 with three and a half minutes to play. Loyola's largest lead of 12, 77-65, came when Hansberry capped off a 10-0 run, and four three throws by the senior in the final 30 seconds helped ice the game to give her 14 points in fourth.
Pack Facts
For the second game in a row, Kennedy Hansberry set a new career-high in points. The senior scored 26 with five rebounds and three assists.
Sandra Cannady notched her team-leading fourth double-double this season with an even 10 points and 10 rebounds.
In addition to her season-high 20 points, Taylor Thomas stole the ball seven times, tying a career-high. Thomas last had seven steals against Mobile on Feb. 9, 2021.
Thomas had half the team's takeaways, as Loyola players collected 14 steals on Saturday, the second-highest total of the season after the team had 19 against LSUA.
Sydni Tangle was the fourth Wolf Pack player in double figures, scoring 11.
As a team, Loyola hit eight 3-pointers. Taylor Thomas led the way with three triples, Hansberry had two, and Tangle, Kate Petrovic, and MG Lymon each connected from long range.
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