What you missed over break in sports

Molly Werts • January 17, 2019

Classes may have a break through December and January, but Loyola’s sports teams did not. Men’s and women’s basketball have been in full swing throughout winter break as they finished up their pre-seasons and started Patriot League play. Women’s track and field also began their season over break with broken records and promising finishes.

The men’s basketball team played a total of six games from Dec. 21 to Jan. 12. Here is what you missed on the men’s basketball schedule:

On Dec. 21, the Greyhounds traveled up to Massachusetts for a hard-fought match against UMass Lowell where the boys fell to the River Hawks 79-97.
After a break, the team traveled to North Carolina on Dec. 28 to play North Carolina State. The Greyhounds fell 64-97.
The team kicked off Patriot League play on Jan. 3 by hosting Holy Cross. It was a rough start to the regular season as the Greyhounds lost 73-80.
The boys hoped to rally on Jan. 6 against Lehigh, but they were unsuccessful. The Greyhounds fell to the Mountain Hawks 72-89.
On Jan. 9, the team traveled to Pennsylvania to play against Lafayette. The guys fell to the leopards 70-85.
To round out the break, the Greyhounds hosted Army West Point on Jan. 12. With the last game of the break, the Greyhounds picked up their first win of Patriot League play as they beat Army 66-64.

In addition, the women’s basketball team played a total of five games over the break. Here is how their games went:

The girls started up their games on Dec. 22 with their first win of the season. The Greyhounds beat Monmouth in New Jersey 75-67.
The team opened up their Patriot League season on Jan. 3 by hosting Navy. The Greyhounds fell to the Midshipmen 46-58.
After hosting, the team turned around and traveled to West Point on Jan. 6. The Greyhounds fell to the Black Knights 57-69.
On Jan. 9, the girls hosted Boston University at Reitz Arena. The Greyhounds fell to Boston in an overtime match with an end score of 62-64.
The team finished up the break by traveling to the Boston area to play Holy Cross. The girls had another tough loss as they fell to the crusaders 60-78.

Women’s track began their season with a couple of meets over the break. Here are some of the highlights and finishes:

At Princeton during the New Year Invitational, Courtney Kenny ‘21 set a Loyola record in the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 41.78 seconds. Kenny placed sixth in the event. The previous record of 43.35 seconds was set by Rachel Koller ‘20 last season.
Molly Smith ‘19 placed first in the 400-meter hurdles and recorded the 10th best time in Loyola history with 59.08 seconds. Smith also ran 42.05 in the 300 hurdles and placed 10th behind Kenny.
Kayleigh Caggiano ‘20 and Courtney Wallace ‘19 placed second and third, respectively, in the mile, running 5:16.58 and 5:37.96.
On Jan.12 the team traveled to Staten Island for the Great Dane Invitational hosted by the University at Albany. The girls had four top-10 finishes in the meet.
Senna Ohlsson ‘21 placed 6th in th 500 meters with a time of 1:16.50. This is the fifth fastest time in this event in school history. Ohlsson now holds all five fastest times.
Audrey O’Neil ‘20 placed 8th in the 1,000 meters with a time of 3:05.78. Kenny placed 10th with 59.28 in the 400-meter hurdles, just in front of Smith who had a time of 59.58. In the 800 meters, Caggiano placed 10th as well with a 2:19.65.

All teams–men’s and women’s basketball and women’s track and field–are looking forward to finishing out their seasons strong. It will be exciting to see how the Patriot League seasons play out.

Images courtesy of Loyola Athletics