Loyola will host the women’s National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics regional basketball tournament for the second consecutive year on Friday night at 5:30 p.m. with the women’s team up against a familiar opponent—Southeastern University of Florida.—Loyola (24-4) hopes that its 12-1 home record in the regular season will translate into the tournament as it seeks to improve on last year’s surprise first-round exit.
“We have a lot of success at home this season and we hope to continue that moving into the weekend,” head coach Kellie Kennedy said. “We play well here, and our group is comfortable at home.”
Kennedy said last year the team was dealing with the loss of starting point guard Kennedy Hansberry, due to an ACL injury in the conference tournament final game. This year is different, she said.
“Our team is excited, and we will approach this next game as we have each one all season. One game and one possession at a time,” Kennedy said.
This game serves as a rematch from earlier in the season when the Wolf Pack and the Fire met in Montgomery, Alabama for the Southern States Athletic Conference/Sun Conference Challenge, and Loyola won 55-53.
The Wolf Pack is led by Sandra Cannady and Taylor Thomas. Cannady, a graduate senior forward and two-time reigning SSAC Player of the Year, earned the award after averaging 16.7 points and 9.3 rebounds this season. Thomas is a graduate senior guard who was second on the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game and leads the team in assists, averaging 4.5 per game.
The Southeastern (Fla.) Fire (22-7) enter this contest on a five-game winning streak that saw them claim their seventh Sun Conference title in the last nine years. The team is led by grad senior point guard Bekki Kalaydjiev, who was named the Sun Conference Player of the Year for this season after averaging 15 points per game and 3.9 assists. Along with grad senior forward Kiki Britzmann, who was named Sun Conference tournament MVP after a 30 point performance.
Coach Kennedy stressed the importance of having a solid game plan to win on Friday and advance to the second round.
“We need to play well on both sides of the ball,” she said. “We need to be aggressive and execute offensively and defend their personnel well.”
