Box Score In a rescheduled contest from last month, the Wolf Pack women's basketball team took down Blue Mountain College for their 10th conference win of the season
NEW ORLEANS – The Loyola University New Orleans women's basketball team won its second straight Southern States Athletic Conference contest Tuesday, defeating Blue Mountain College, 88-74, in a game that was rescheduled from last month. The win moves Loyola to 16-5 overall and 10-3 in the SSAC, sitting one game ahead of second-place Talladega.
Coinicendely, the Pack and Talladega will meet for the second time this season on Saturday for a noon matchup in The Den. With it being the last women's game at home this season, Loyola will celebrate Senior Day in between its game and the men's game.
The first quarter featured back-and-forth play with eight lead changes before Loyola went up 18-17 with two minutes left in the opening frame. BMC opened the game with a 3-pointer before Taylor Thomas answered a minute later, then three free throws by Sandra Cannady gave Loyola a 6-5 lead. Trailing 13-9, Sydni Tangle hit a 3 to cut the deficit, and Tera Snell gave Loyola a 14-13 advantage with four minutes left in the first. With the Toppers up 17-16, the Pack began a big run that lasted well into the second quarter. Tangle and Snell both hit shots down the stretch of the first quarter, and Kate Petrovic hit a 3 to make it a 25-17 lead after the opening frame.
Thomas opened the second with a 3, then Jazmene McMillan made back-to-back shots to make it a 32-17 game. The Wolf Pack missed just one shot over the 18-0 run, as Loyola's advantage extended to 34-17 at the eight-minute mark of the second. Cannady made it an 18-point lead for the Pack with consecutive made baskets, and that was followed up by two scores by Snell sandwiched around a 3-pointer by Tangle to give Loyola a 48-30 advantage with two-plus minutes until halftime. The Pack would end up going into the locker room up by 15, 50-35.
Blue Mountain didn't make much headway in the third quarter, only outscoring the Pack by three to head into the fourth quarter down 66-54. Cannady accounted for Loyola's first five points of the third quarter, then Kennedy Hansberry scored before another two points from Cannady, 59-42. The Toppers cut the deficit to 11 with 2:36 to go, but a 3-pointer by McMillan helped give Loyola a 12-point lead at the end of three quarters.
The Lady Topper made things interesting for a moment in the fourth, though. In the first four minutes, BMC cut Loyola's lead down to five, 70-65, but a combination of Tay Cannon, Snell and Cannady scored the game's next eight points to push the lead back out to 80-65 with a little more than three minutes to go. Cannon scored six points down the stretch and Thomas added a bucket, too, as the Wolf Pack sealed the 14-point win.
Pack Facts
Sandra Cannady collected her ninth double-double of the season, pouring in a career-high 26 points while grabbing 10 rebounds.
Tera Snell recorded the first double-double of her Wolf Pack career, scoring 12 points while pulling down 10 rebounds. It's her first time in double figures for both categories this season.
Snell also blocked three shots, while Tay Cannon had one block. Snell and Cannon are now tied for 10th place on Loyola's all-time blocks list, with 47 each for their careers.
Kennedy Hansberry only scored five points, but she dished out 12 assists, which tied a career-high.
Hansberry is now at 339 total assists for her career, passing Zoie Miller for 7th all time.
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