Thornton picks up SSAC Defensive Player of the Week honors

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Southern States Athletic Conference released its Women's Basketball Players of the Week on Monday, and Loyola Wolf Pack junior Deniya Thornton received SSAC Defensive Player of the Week honors. 

While this is Loyola women's basketball's first SSAC weekly award of the season, Thornton is no stranger to conference accolades, picking up four SSAC Player of the Week awards last season. This is the junior's third time being named SSAC Defensive Player of the Week in her Wolf Pack career, in addition to her two SSAC Offensive Player of the Week awards from last year. 

Coming off of a loss in the conference opener, Loyola took on crosstown opponent Dillard on Tuesday in last week's lone matchup. Thornton played a big part of a 70-61 win for the Pack, extending Loyola's win streak over the Bleu Devils to nine games since 2018. 

Thornton logged 35 minutes in the contest with the Bleu Devils. While it was her first game without a made three-point shot this season, the Wolf Pack's leading scorer in 2025 logged 18 points and eight rebounds while going 7-of-13 from the field. Defensively, she patrolled the perimeter as usual, collecting a game-high five steals. It was her second game this season with at least five takeaways. 

Thornton is the Wolf Pack's leader in multiple statistical categories this season, including points per game (18.9), three-pointers (8), steals (19), and blocks (6). Her scoring average ranks second in the SSAC, and her 2.7 steals per game rank fifth in the conference as well. 

Loyola returns to SSAC play this weekend with road matchups at Blue Mountain and Tennessee Southern.