 "Photo: Loyola Athletic Department/Steve Woltmann")
Lately, the Loyola women’s basketball team has been suffering quite a bit due to some cold streaks. Two weeks ago, when Detroit came to town, the Ramblers were run over by the Titans when they opened up the game on a 21-2 run. LU saw more cold spurts last week when they traveled to Wisconsin for a couple of games, which ultimately resulted in a pair of losses.
On Thursday, the Ramblers scored only one bucket in the first six and a half minutes. Their opponent, the Milwaukee Panthers, skated along smoothly with an 11-2 lead. The Panthers’ lead eventually reached double figures, but the Ramblers still managed to make it a tight game.
After a scoring run of their own, Loyola made it a tie ball game with just under three minutes left in the first half (24-24). For the remainder of the half though, both teams failed to hit a shot from the field. One Milwaukee free-throw gave them the advantage at halftime (25-24).
During the second half of play, a trend developed: Milwaukee would take a minor lead, and then Loyola would pull it together and tie it back up. But after senior point guard Keisha Collins hit a jumper to tie it at 47, the Ramblers, unfortunately, could not keep up. For the remaining four and a half minutes, LU struggled to put up points, nabbing only four. Milwaukee, on the other hand, had no problem against the Loyola defense.
The Panthers defeated the Ramblers for the second time this season with a final score of 60-51. Senior center Shannon Finnegan had a team high of 12 points. Sophomore Ellen Ayoub finished with 10.
After the game, Collins, who scored 11 points and handed out eight assists, turned her attention to their next game. “We just couldn’t get it going. We had a lot of great opportunities but we just didn’t finish them,” Collins said. “We needed that game but now we have to focus on a tough Green Bay team.”
And a tough game it was. The Ramblers shot 49 percent from the field, but still lost by more than 20 points. They fell behind early (10-2); however, they hung on momentarily. After a short scoring run, and a three-pointer by senior guard Maggie McCloskey, it was a 13-9 ball game. Another trey, this time by sophomore Katie Kortekamp, made it a three-point game (17-14). Green Bay then went on a tremendous 20-2 run (37-16). By the end of the first half, the Ramblers cut the 21-point deficit down to 16 (41-25).
Collins nailed three of three from the charity strike to open the second half, but the Phoenix wouldn’t let LU any closer.
Green Bay ended up getting revenge from their first meeting, in which Loyola handed them their first loss, by pouring on the points and winning by a score of 72-49. Green Bay caused the Ramblers to turn the ball over 30 teams, a season high. Collins scored 14 points. Senior forward Elyse VanBogaert added 10 of her own.
The game marked only the third time all year that the Ramblers failed to score 50 points. Additionally, it was the third biggest margin of defeat (23 points). Their record now stands 13-13 overall and 7-8 in conference play.
This Saturday, the ladies head to the UIC Pavilion in attempt to douse the Flames. In their last meeting, the Ramblers suffered a loss at Gentile, so they’ll try to redeem themselves with a road victory.
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