No. 19 Loyola earns road SSAC win Thursday

WEST POINT, Ga. – The 19th-ranked Loyola Wolf Pack women's basketball team hit the road for their first set of away Southern States Athletic Conference match ups, defeating Point University, 81-65, Thursday night. The Pack is now 6-1 overall and 2-0 in SSAC play, as they'll travel to Thomas University for an 11 a.m. tip-off on Saturday. 
 

Lizzy Ratcliff converted an early and-1 opportunity, but the Skyhawks were still able to take a 9-5 lead through the first three and a minutes of play. Bria McClure and Sandra Cannady had back-to-back scores to cut the deficit to 11-10 with three-plus minutes left in the opening quarter, then Taylor Thomas gave the Pack the lead, 13-11, with a 3-pointer at the 2:42 mark. Cannady added another bucket around the two-minute mark, 15-13, as both teams were held scoreless the rest of the way. 
 

Point took a two-point lead, 18-16, early in the second quarter, but a 3 by Ratcliff flipped the lead in Loyola's favor for good, 19-18, two minutes into the frame. MG Lymon got on the board with a fast-break layup, and scores by Cannady and Caitlin Travis pushed Loyola's lead to 26-18 at the halfway point of the quarter. The Wolf Pack ended up using a 17-4 run to build a 36-22 lead, which was powered by four points each by Lymon and Cannady, as they ended the first half with a 36-23 advantage. 
 

Thomas hit a couple of 3s to start the second half, Ratcliff added to her point total, and Alissa O'Dell got her first points to balloon Loyola's lead to 46-25 through the first three minutes. Cannady answered a Point score, as both teams started a scoring spree that led to Loyola leading 59-39 by the end of the frame. O'Dell led the scoring for the Pack during that stretch with four points. 
 

O'Dell got the scoring started in the fourth quarter, followed by Jada Farrell's first points, 63-39. O'Dell got to double figures after that, as the two combined for the first seven points of the fourth. Morgan Hervey scored her first points as well and Thomas hit two more 3s to help Loyola keep Point at-bay and cruise to victory. 
 

Pack Facts

• Taylor Thomas went off from 3-point range, knocking down 6-of-11 from distance to finish with 20 total points, her highest total of the season.

• Thomas also led the Wolf Pack with six assists and two steals, plus six rebounds.

• Fresh off an SSAC Player of the Week selection, Sandra Cannady put in another double-double, her third in a row, with 13 points, a game-high 10 rebounds, and three blocks. 

• It was also Cannady's fourth double-double of the season, and 34th of her career. 

• Loyola had four or more double-digit scorers for the third-straight game, as Lizzy Ratcliff and Alissa O'Dell each put up 10 points. 

• The Wolf Pack dominated the paint battle, out-scoring the Skyhawks 38-20 in the paint. Loyola also out-rebounded Point 42-30.