The Loyola women’s basketball team defeated the Georgetown College Tigers 79-74 to advance to their first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Sweet Sixteen since 2014.
“It’s really exciting to be able to cut your own nets down,” said head coach Kellie Kennedy. “You really don’t want to see somebody else do that in your own gym. Our kids fought really hard and we can’t wait to get to Iowa.”
The Wolf Pack (26-4) were led by a strong performance from freshman guard Caitlin Travis, who led all scores with a career high 25 points and three rebounds.
“I just thank God really, for putting me in this position,” Travis said. “I’m just really thankful that we were able to win these games and get the chance to go to Iowa. My teammates just found me in great spots and I just went off of that. I just trusted in them, trusted in our game plan, trusted in our coaching staff, and we built off each other.”
After being down at the end of the first quarter, and trading baskets for much of the second, the Wolf Pack took a 43-41 lead just under halfway through the third quarter with a jumper from graduate senior guard Taylor Thomas. The team never trailed again for the rest of the game.
“This victory means everything to me,” Thomas said. “That’s all I can really say about it. It means everything to me and my teammates, this is my last go-round at this, and we’re just really excited that we’re not done yet.”
Thomas finished second on the team in scoring with 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds as well.
A strong second quarter performance from Loyola made all the difference in this game as they outscored the Tigers 17-9 and held them to 3-14 shooting in the quarter
“We’ve been preparing for this moment, so we just stuck to the work we’ve been putting in, and went out and won the game,” Travis said.
The Wolf Pack will play again Thursday and now await the winner of second seeded Carroll College (Montana), who knocked them out of the tournament in 2021, and seventh seeded Oregon Tech.
And with more basketball on the way, the team is excited to see where the rest of the season goes!
“Let’s go Pack!” Thomas said. “See you in Iowa, baby!”
