Loyola women’s basketball played its first two home games this past week, falling to Towson on Thursday before tallying its first win of the season against Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday.
In Thursday night’s battle between two Baltimore foes, the Tigers held on to beat the Greyhounds, 63-50. Towson delayed Loyola’s quest for its first win of the season as the Greyhounds lost their sixth straight game.
The Tigers were able to penetrate Loyola’s defense easily giving them an 11-5 lead early on in the game. Towson scored eight points off Loyola turnovers and at the half, the Tigers led by 11, 32-21. Towson scored 21 of the game’s first 28 points en route to the victory. Six Towson players scored at least four points.
The two teams were tied for 1:53 at 5 with 15:56 to play in the first half but Towson would pull away from Loyola and the Greyhounds would never get the lead all game. Senior Markell Smith notched a layup at 15:26 to start Towson’s 16-2 run. LaTorri Hines-Allen scored a jumper at 10:06, which gave the Tigers a 21-7 lead.
The Greyhounds then answered with a 9-2 run of their own and cut the Tigers’ lead to 23-16. Sophomore Lisa Mirachi had five points during that run. Loyola’s run wasn’t enough to grab the lead before halftime. Towson scored nine of the final 14 points of the half and took a 32-21 lead at the break.
Towson opened the second half on a 12-4 run and took a 44-25 lead with 13:19 to play in the game, the largest lead of the game. Loyola used a 23-6 run to cut the 19-point Towson lead to only two points, 50-48, with less than five minutes left. The Greyhounds’ run included junior Colleen Marshall scoring a lay-up and free throw and back-to-back threes by Mirarchi and senior Steph Smith.
Johnson hit a pair of free throws for the Tigers that ceased the Greyhounds’ run. Johnson’s free throws were the start of six straight points from her to extend Towson’s lead to eight, 56-48, with 53 seconds to play. Towson shot 7-for-8 from the foul line in the final 50 seconds of the game to seal the victory.
On Saturday, Loyola picked up its first win of the season against Mount St. Mary’s, winning a 56-49 decision. Saturday’s game between the two teams marked the 36th all-time meeting between the two programs; the Mount’s record against Loyola fell to 23-13. Loyola’s first win of the season comes six games into the season, including five straight road games against Big East, Big Ten, and ACC teams.
The Hounds were strong on offense and for the first time this season, they held the lead for the first five minutes of the game. The Greyhounds used a 14-1 run in the first half to secure the lead for a majority of the game.
Lauren Daugherty’s 3-pointer sparked Loyola’s 14-1 run and Daugherty scored seven of the 14 points, while Jeneh Perry, freshman Karley Kolberg and Mirachi each added points.
The game featured eight lead changes and four ties but Loyola was able to come out on top as it scored 30 points off the Mount’s 25 turnovers. Loyola took a 29-20 advantage into halftime.
Mount St. Mary’s came out in the second half fighting and went on a 12-2 run to take the lead, 32-30, but a 3-pointer at the top of key from Marshall returned the lead to Loyola.
The Mount’s final lead came on a Katrice Dickson layup with 6:21 left for a 47-46 advantage. Loyola outscored the Mount 10-2 the rest of the way. Eleven out of the last 16 game points were tallied at the free-throw line for both teams. Mirarchi shot a team-best 8-for-11 from the line.
Rookie Bri Betz-White tied a career-best, scoring a game-high 14 points. Mirarchi chipped in 10 points, white Perry grabbed a game-best nine rebounds.
For the second-consecutive game, Loyola out-rebounded its opponent. The Greyhounds pulled down 31 rebounds, while the Mount grabbed 25.
Loyola will continue its seven-game home stand in on Tuesday against East Carolina University at 7 p.m. Loyola’s first conference game will be on New Year’s Eve versus Patriot League opponent Navy at 2 p.m. in Reitz Arena.
