Women’s team hammered by the Green Wave in annual matchup
November 5, 2015
Tulane sophomore guard Kolby Morgan, left, strips the ball from Loyola freshman guard Kayla Noto on a fast break at the annual Battle of Freret, a scrimmage between the Loyola and Tulane basketball teams. On Thursday night, the women’s team fell to Tulane 48-90.
The Loyola Wolf Pack entered Thursday night’s matchup with a young, unproven squad. The team would face one of its toughest opponents in the annual “Battle of Freret” against Tulane University.
The team jumped out to an early lead against the Division I opponent, leading 8-2 in the first five minutes of the contest. The Pack went on to knock down three of its eight three pointers in the opening minutes of the game. The Green Wave defense would settle in and force eight first quarter turnovers, making the score 20-19 at the end of the period.
The Green Wave opened the second quarter on a 10-3 run. The lead at the half was 48-33, with the Green Wave outscoring the Pack 29-13 in the second.
The second half would not be much better for the Pack, as the Green Wave out rebounded the team by 19 in the third quarter alone, as well as forcing 29 turnovers for the game. The Pack would fall to the Green Wave 90-48. For Kellie Kennedy, head coach, the biggest turning point in the game was Tulane’s defense.
“They started pressing us and we just weren’t taking care of the ball. We were putting them on the free throw line and they would press after every make. We were attacking and getting good looks but we kept giving them opportunities to press us. That really hurt us,” Kennedy said.
The team was also out rebounded 48-33 in the game, another stat that Kennedy felt was the deciding factor in Thursday’s loss. Junior forward Caroline Gonzalez also attributes an off shooting night to the team’s struggles as a whole.
“I felt a little out of rhythm. Normally I can knock down those shots. I haven’t been hitting them lately but I will down the road,”Gonzalez said.
The team shot just 31 percent on threes and 29 percent overall. Sophomore guard Zoie Miller said that it is important for the team to look ahead and continue to improve.
“It’s just a bad game. We can’t focus on this one. We’ve just got to continue to move on to the next one,” Miller said.
The Pack’s next matchup will be on Nov. 7 against Concordia College in Selma, Alabama.
