Loyola women advance to Round of 16 of national tournament

Ssixth-seeded Wolf Pack beat No. 3 Georgetown College on Saturday in the second round of the NAIA National Championship

NEW ORLEANS – For the first time since 2014, the Loyola Wolf Pack women’s basketball team will play in the Round of 16 of the NAIA National Championship. That’s because the sixth-seeded Wolf Pack took down No. 3 Georgetown College, 79-74, on Saturday in the second round of the tournament, advancing Loyola to Sioux City, Iowa, to play at the final site of the championships.

Loyola will play the winner of No. 2 Carroll (Mont.) and No. 7 Oregon Tech on Thursday, March 21, at 8 p.m.

After Sandra Cannady and Deniya Thornton scored Loyola’s first two baskets, Caitlin Travis scored on back-to-back possessions to give Loyola an 8-4 lead after two and a half minutes of play. The freshman scored again 90 seconds later, 10-6, and a steal by Taylor Thomas led to Alissa O’Dell’s first two points, 14-8, more than halfway through the opening quarter. Georgetown ended up tying it, 14-14, before taking a 21-17 lead after 10 minutes of play.

After the Tigers hit two free throws to open the second quarter, Sydni Tangle hit a 3-pointer and O’Dell made two shots to put Loyola back on top, 24-23, after three minutes. Georgetown went back ahead by four, 28-24 two minutes later, but the Pack ended the first half on a 10-2 run to lead 34-30 at the break. Thornton pulled down an offensive rebound and scored to start that run, and Alexis Babineaux tied it, 28-28, off a good assist from Thornton. Cannady hit a 3 at the end of the shot clock after that, and three free throws by Travis ended the first half with Loyola holding the momentum.

The Tigers came out of halftime and scored the first five points to regain the lead, 35-34, but Cannady converted an and-1 opportunity to make it a Loyola lead again, 37-35. Thomas scored nine of her 17 points in the third quarter, and it started after an offensive rebound, then Travis and Thomas continued to pour it in to keep the Pack out in front, 43-41. Those two combined for 15 of Loyola’s 20 points in the third quarter, as Loyola led 54-51 entering the fourth quarter.

Thornton got the scoring started for Loyola in the fourth quarter with three made shots to make it a 60-51 lead with seven minutes left in the game. The Tigers, though, answered with six straight points to bring the deficit back down to three, but Cannady and Thomas scored on consecutive possessions to push it back out to six, 65-59, at the halfway point of the quarter. Babineaux made another tough bucket and Travis scored her 22nd point to extend Loyola’s lead to 71-64, then Travis made her last field goal at the 1:17 mark to push the score to 73-64. Georgetown hit a couple of shots from there, but Loyola made their free throws to seal the win.

Pack Facts
– This is the furthest Loyola’s women’s basketball team has been in the NAIA National Championship since the 2013-14 team, which is in the Wolf Pack Hall of Fame, made the quarterfinals.

– Loyola was led in scoring on Saturday by freshman Caitlin Travis, who poured in a career-high 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting, 9-of-11 at the free throw line.

– Fellow freshman Deniya Thornton was third on the team with 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting.

– Taylor Thomas did not score in the first half, but she came alive with 17 second-half points, hitting 2-of-5 three-pointers while grabbing seven rebounds, plus two assists and a steal. It’s not in the box score, but she also drew three offensive fouls on Georgetown.

– Thomas is now eighth in career three-pointers at Loyola with 169.

– Sandra Cannady posted her 14th double-double of the season, putting up 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. She also tied with Sydni Tangle for a team high with four assists.

– Defensively, Tangle had three steals to lead all players. Thornton also blocked three shots, her most of the season.

– Cannady is now ninth on Loyola’s all-time scoring list with 1,423 points in her career. She’s also up over 900 rebounds at Loyola with 907.

2024 NAIA National Championship First & Second Rounds
Friday, March 15 – Friday Round
Game 1 | #6 Loyola 84, #11 Southeastern 78
Game 2 | #3 Georgetown 87, #14 Milligan 61

Saturday, March 16 – Second Round
Game 3 | 5 p.m. | #6 Loyola 79, #3 Georgetown 74

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