Women’s Basketball: Loyola sweeps Blue Mountain College, holds top spot in SSAC West

No. 24 Loyola Wolf Pack moved their winning streak to eight games Saturday, defeating the Lady Toppers by 12 points on the road

BLUE MOUNTAIN, Miss. – The Loyola University New Orleans women’s basketball team continued its winning ways, sweeping the two weekend games against Blue Mountain College with a 70-58 win Saturday.

The Wolf Pack (13-1 overall) sits in first place atop the Southern States Athletic Conference West Division with an 8-1 mark in conference play. They’ll travel to Mobile Tuesday for the last of four straight road games, tipping off at 5:30 p.m. against the Rams.

Loyola got off to a good start Saturday, taking an early 7-2 lead after Chelsea Gray and Sandra Cannady got on the board followed by a 3-pointer from Presley Wascom. Cannady added two more baskets after grabbing an offensive rebound and recording a steal, then Kennedy Hansberry made it 17-7 with three straight scores. Jazmene McMillan added a bucket to close out the first quarter with a 20-10 Wolf Pack lead.

BMC cut the Wolf Pack’s lead to seven early in the second with two made shots at the end of the shot clock, but Wascom and Taylor Thomas each hit 3s to push the lead back out to 13, 28-15. Cannady gave Loyola its largest lead of the first half with her eighth point of the game, 30-15, and Gray earned an and-1 opportunity to help Loyola take a 34-23 lead at halftime.

After Blue Mountain scored the third quarter’s first five points, Wascom made two quick shots to give Loyola another double-digit lead, 38-28. Thomas converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, then McMillan scored five points in a minute of game time to keep Loyola comfortably ahead, 50-34. Hansberry and Cannady also scored during Loyola’s 16-6 run, taking a 50-36 advantage into the final 10 minutes of play.

The Lady Toppers tried to make it interesting in the fourth by cutting the score to 56-49 with 5:14 left to play, but Loyola scored 12 of the game’s next 14 points to run away from BMC. It all started with a score by Cannady, then McMillan and Wascom added 3-pointers to quickly push the lead back out to 62-51. Four different Wolf Pack players scored in the final 3:22 to close out the game, as Cannady, Gray, Tera Snell and Sydney Nunley all got in on the action.

PACK FACTS
Jazmene McMillan shared the team-high with 14 points, the most for the freshman since she recorded 24 on Nov. 21 against Southeastern Baptist.

Sandra Cannady also had 14 points, and she has double-digit points in seven of the nine games she’s appeared in this season.

Presley Wascom added 13 points Saturday, her sixth consecutive game in double figures.

Listed at 5-foot-4, Taylor Thomas pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

Loyola’s current eight-game winning streak is the longest streak since the 2018-19 season when the Pack won 10 straight games.

Winning its 13th game out of 14 tries, this is the fastest to 13 wins for Loyola since it started the 2014-15 season 13-0. The Wolf Pack won their first 14 games that season before their first loss.

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.