The Loyola University Maryland women’s basketball team continues its rise up the Patriot League standings. Currently, the Greyhounds stand at 3-3 and in a 4-way tie for third place with Army, Bucknell and Lafayette. In the latest week of Patriot League play the Greyhounds finished 1-1 with a loss against Lafayette and a win over Boston University.
In Wednesday’s loss against Lafayette, Loyola lost its 14-point lead in the second half. The Leopards (10-6, 3-2) used a 15-0 second half run to erase the deficit and secure the 57-49 win. Senior forward Emily Homan paced the Leopards with a double-double, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds and senior guard Maddie Peabody added 13 points and three steals. Freshman guard Bri Betz-White led Loyola with 15 points and Colleen Marshall added 14. Betz-White and Marshall, in addition to Lauren Daugherty, shared the team lead with five rebounds, while senior Steph Smith shared a game-high of five assists.
In the first half of the Field Trip Day matinee at Reitz Arena, the Greyhounds shot an impressive 46.2 percent from the field, while the Leopards only connected on eight of 27 field goals. Loyola used a 16-3 run to take a 21-8 lead at the nine-minute mark. The Leopards cut the deficit to nine on a lay-up from Homan, but the Greyhounds were able to push their advantage up to 14, 27-13 with four minutes to play in the first half. Lafayette closed out the half scoring 10 of the last 12 points to pull within six, 29-23, entering the locker room.
Loyola came out of the locker room hot, scoring the first eight points of the second half, but Lafayette slowly chipped away at Loyola’s lead. The Leopards used an 18-2 run to take their first lead of the game, 44-42, since opening the matchup at tipoff. With just over five minutes remaining, Marshall and Smith tied the score in back-to-back possessions, as the Greyhounds would not let the Leopards take the lead for nearly three minutes. Lafayette went on to score 10 of the last 12 points of the game, which included a perfect showing (6-for-6) at the free throw line, to close out the game.
The Greyhounds notched their third Patriot League victory with a 63-53 win over Boston University, which was playing without two starting guards. Bri Betz-White topped her career high by four points, dropping 23 in the win. Betz-White connected on 5-of-8 from the field and 11-of-12 free throws in the Saturday afternoon matchup. Guards Nai Brown and Colleen Marshall also were in double figures for the Greyhounds with 10 points apiece. Sophomore forward Meghan Green led the Terriers with 20 points.
Loyola got off to a fast start, beginning the game on an 8-1 run. The Terriers caught up and cut the deficit to two points less than five minutes into the game but the Greyhounds did not give up, eventually building up to their largest lead of the game, 11 points, midway through the first half.
For the third-straight game, Loyola led after the first 20 minutes, going up 34-28 at halftime. The Greyhounds used that momentum to continue a strong offensive performance in the second half.
Brown scored the team’s first six points of the second half to make it 40-32 with 16:65 to play in the second half. Boston University’s Mollie McKendrick made a jumper to cut the Greyhounds’ lead to six points. Both teams would then go on to stay off the board for nearly four minutes. Colleen Marshall and Betz-White helped extend Loyola’s lead to as many as eight, 45-37, but the Terriers went on a 9-3 run to pull within two points, 48-46, with 3:44 left. Senior Steph Smith halted BU’s momentum by sparking a 7-2 run with a 3-pointer to make the score 51-46. After the run, Betz-White scored Loyola’s final eight points, all of which were free throws.
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