Loyola Wolf Pack Women’s Basketball announces 2017-18 schedule

(New Orleans, La.) Entering her tenth year at the helm, Loyola University New Orleans head women’s basketball coach Kellie Kennedy unveiled the Wolf Pack’s 2017-18 schedule today.

Loyola heads into the 2017-18 campaign after winning its second Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) regular season title and making its fourth-straight appearance in the NAIA National Championship last year.

2016-17 proved to be a historic year for Loyola, as Kennedy became the all-time winningest basketball coach in school history while the Wolf Pack set the new mark for most regular season victories (25) by a Loyola women’s basketball team ever.

Individually, the Wolf Pack featured two NAIA All-Americans last year in Meghan Temple (Third Team) and Zoie Miller (SR/Frisco, Tex.) (Honorable Mention) while both the SSAC and Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) selected Kennedy as their Women’s Basketball Coach of The Year.

NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

Loyola starts the 2017-18 season with two back-to-back home games against Xavier University (Oct. 26) and Southeastern University (Oct.
28) on the newly-renovated Den floor. The Wolf Pack will then head across the street for the annual Battle of Freret Street against Tulane on Nov. 2 before returning to The Den to square off against Huston-Tillotson on Nov. 4. Loyola then makes the short trip to the Battlefield to battle Dillard on Nov. 8 prior to playing Paul Quinn College on the 11th. Following its game against Paul Quinn, the Wolf Pack will head to Oklahoma City to participate in the Oklahoma City University Tournament where its will face both Southwestern Christian (Nov. 17) and the host Stars (Nov.18). The remainder of the non-conference schedule features the usual suspects (SUNO on Nov. 21 and Spring Hill on Dec. 8) but also has Loyola facing a few unfamiliar foes in the University of the Virgin Islands (Dec. 16) and Stillman College (Feb. 15). A founding member of the Caribbean University Sports Association, UVI is one of 21 U.S accredited universities in the Caribbean and is currently a member of the Intercollegiate Athletic League of Puerto Rico. Coming out of Tuscaloosa, Stillman College finished the 2016-17 season with an impressive 19-4 record.
The Lady Tigers led the country with a +16.381 rebounding margin and finished fourth in the NAIA in three-point field goal percentage defense (0.24).

SSAC SCHEDULE

The Wolf Pack’s conference slate features 17 games, with eight of the
17 contests being held inside The Den. Loyola starts conference play on the road with three games at William Carey (Nov. 30), Blue Mountain (Dec. 2) and Mobile (Dec. 18) before welcoming Brewton-Parker (Jan. 4) and Middle Georgia State (Jan. 6) to the Crescent City for two SSAC contests. The remainder of the conference schedule switches between two home and two road games, with the regular season ending with two home contests against William Carey (Feb. 22) and Blue Mountain (Feb.
24).

ROSTER

Entering the 2017-18 season, coach Kennedy will be tasked with replacing the winningest senior class in program history as Kylah Jones, Jackie Anderson and Meghan Temple all graduated in May. Loyola returns two First Team All-SSAC selections in Miller and Di’Mond Jackson (SR/Baton Rouge, La.), both of which will be looked at to lead the squad this upcoming season. Miller’s 13.5 points per game and 69 total steals were tops on the team last year despite playing primarily off the bench. Jackson paced the Wolf Pack offense with 133 assists while ranking second in both total rebounds (202) and steals (47).
Loyola also welcomes back sophomore sharpshooter Paige Franckiewicz (SO/Slidell, La.) who ended last season ranked inside the top 20 nationally in both three-pointer made (84) and three-point field goals made per game (2.5).

The Wolf Pack’s 2017-18 roster features five freshmen –Presley Wascom (FR/Denham Springs, La.), Savannah Ralph (FR/Austin, Tex.), Kamille Cooper (FR/San Antonio, Tex.), Chelsea Gray (FR/Houston, Tex.), and Ilya Banineaux (FR/Houston, Tex.) – along with junior An’Jolique Woodson (JR/Corpus Christi, Tex.) – a transfer from the University of the Southwest.