No. 25 Loyola rolls over William Carey in SSAC women’s tournament semis

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The No. 25 Loyola Wolf Pack have now won in each of their two SSAC Championship matchups handily, winning their semifinal matchup with William Carey 80-54 Friday afternoon. The decisive win over the Crusaders comes a day before a 45-point in the tournament’s quarterfinals, and the top-seeded Wolf Pack (21-5) will now face the winner of No. 7-seed Brewton-Parker and third-seeded Talladega in the SSAC Championship title game.

The championship game is set for 4 p.m. on Sunday from the Multiplex at Cramton Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama.

After William Carey opened up the game with a 3-pointer, the Wolf Pack quickly responded with eight straight points in the first four minutes of the game. Sandra Cannady scored and made an and-1 opportunity, then Kennedy Hansberry followed up a Tay Cannon-made shot with a 3-pointer, 8-3. Consecutive made shots by Cannon and Liz Critton were followed-up, again, with a made 3, this time by Sydni Tangle, and another 3-pointer by Tangle at the end of the opening quarter gave the Pack a 23-11 lead.

The Crusaders started the second quarter with five points in the first minute, cutting the Loyola lead to seven, 23-16, but Kate Petrovic and Jazmene McMillan each hit 3-pointers during a Wolf Pack 12-0 run to extend their advantage to 35-16. Petrovic then scored nine points in the final three minutes of the quarter, allowing Loyola to take a 44-20 lead at the break.

Again, William Carey started a quarter with the first five points, 44-25, but Loyola, again, went on another run to squash WCU’s momentum. Tangle made a 3-pointer then Hansberry and Cannady scored on back-to-back possessions, pushing the lead to 28, 53-25, halfway through the third. Tangle scored again from beyond the arc, Cannon made three straight shots, and Petrovic put an exclamation point on the 28-point third quarter with another 3-pointer, giving the Pack a 72-37 lead after three quarters.

Leading by 35, Loyola was outscored 17-8 in the fourth quarter, as MG Lymon led the Pack with six points.

PACK FACTS
– Kennedy Hansberry scored five points, bringing her career total to 1,004 points.

– Loyola had three players score in double figures, led by Tay Cannon with a game-high 15. The other two came from the bench, Sydni Tangle with 14 and Kate Petrovic with 13.

– Loyola’s bench almost out-scored William Carey, putting up 48 points total. Liz Critton scored eight points off the bench, Jazmene McMillan had seven, and MG Lymon had six.

– Petrovic and Tangle went a combined 7-of-13 from three-point range. The Pack made nine three-pointers in total, with Hansberry and McMillan each hitting one.

– It was the best team three-point shooting effort since Jan. 20, when the team had 13 long-range makes.

– As a team, Loyola grabbed 11 steals, the seventh straight contest with double digits in that category.

SSAC WOMEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Feb. 23
Game 1 | #9 Blue Mountain def. #8 Middle Georgia 67-53

Thursday, Feb. 24
Game 2 | #4 William Carey def. #5 Stillman 63-53
Game 3 | #1 Loyola def. #9 Blue Mountain 90-45
Game 4 | 4:30 p.m. | #7 Brewton-Parker v. #2 Faulkner
Game 5 | 8 p.m. | #3 Talladega v. #6 Mobile

Friday, Feb. 25
Game 6 | #1 Loyola def. #4 William Carey 80-54
Game 7 | 5 p.m. | Winner of Gm 4 v. Winner of Gm 5

Saturday, Feb. 26
Championship | 4 p.m. | #1 Loyola v. Winner of Gm 7

You can keep up with the Pack by following Wolf Pack Athletics on Facebook at Facebook.com/LoyolaWolfPack, Twitter and Instagram @LoyolaWolfPack, and by checking out our website at LoyolaWolfPack.com.