Last week, coach Dobee Plaisance remarked that, if the ‘Pack continued to provide balanced scoring, any team on their schedule would have a hard time beating them.
Her team proved that Thursday Night at The Den and pulled off a 74-70 win in a double-overtime thriller against highly-ranked (No. 25) University of Mobile.
“Well, I could tell you one thing, – this double-overtime game showed the will of our team. We showed balance on offense and poise on defense. This is a huge victory.” Plaisance said.
The Lady Wolfpack had four players score in double- figures, with freshman point guard Trenell Smith, psychology major, pouring in 20 points on six-of-nine shooting and two-of-three from three-point land.
Kimberly Rigg put up 18 points on eight-of-12 shooting, and they got 13 from point guard Trenese Smith (, psychology major,) and 10 from mass communication senior Kiely Schork.
This is the second straight game that they had four players in double-figures.
Said Plaisance about the Smith twins, “The best is yet to come from these two.”
Though the game was not always pretty (75 turnovers between the two teams), Loyola scrapped on defense and fought for rebounds against Mobile’s outstanding post players, Emmerentia Ledwaba and Rheonda Lerary (both listed at 6- fooeet tall).
There were many times during the game that the Lady ‘Pack showed grit and mental toughness.
As the game got longer, the ‘Pack picked up its defensive intensity. Mobile did not score a field goal for the 2:35 of the first overtime.
Though they let Mobile put the game into double overtime on a buzzer-beater by Ledwaba, they buckled down and scored the first five points of the extra session, and took the lead 71-66 with three minutes to go.
Mobile never got within less than three after that.
This was a huge character win, in Plaisance’s opinion. “My prayer is that this team now realizes that they can compete at a national level with any team in the country”.
In a game filled with action, here are some of the most memorable parts:
The Good- Trenese Smith hit back to back threes in the middle of the second half, which fired up the crowd and ignited the rest of the team.
The Bad- In the first half, there were almost as many combined turnovers (36), as attempted shots (45).
The Nasty- With the game locked at 62-59 in the first overtime, Trenell Smith broke down the defense with a sick Gary Paton-esque spin-move, that was followed by a teardrop finger-roll, that Steve Nash would have respected. It got the entire crowd out of their seats.
The Lady Wolfpack plays at Xavier at 1 Pp.Mm. on Saturday.
Daniel Alvarez can be reached at [email protected].
