On Tuesday, women’s basketball coach Dobee Plaisance received a phone call from the athletic director at Concordia College, who needed another game scheduled.
With only two days to prepare, coach Plaisance turned short notice into a sweet 63-48 victory.
“Even though we only had two days to prepare, we were more effective at denying the ball in the second half. Tonight, we made our run on them early and executed longer.”
Led by psychology sophomore Tranese Smith’s 20-point effort, Loyola handed Concordia’s Lady Hornets their first loss of the season and gave themselves their first victory of the young season.
Smith scored her highest total of the season – she was a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the foul stripe, marking her second straight perfect shooting performance.
As a team, they shot 50 percent in the second half. An 18-6 run over a six minute stretch in the second half extended Loyola’s advantage to 19 with 9:49 left.
They managed to hold the lead, fighting off a late rally from the Hornets.
Leading in the rebound category was psychology pre-med senior Kim Rigg with eight boards to go along with nine points in the contest.
Also of note was the performance of senior captain Dani Holland, criminal justice graduate, who contributed eight points points in 21 minutes of game action.
Coach Plaisance was proud of Holland’s efforts.
“Players like Dani Holland show the heart of this team. She had surgery on Tuesday and played 21 minutes, shooting 50 percent on three-pointers and committing only one turnover.”
Although the game was schedule during the week, this game was part of a rigorous non-conference schedule that will only make the Wolfpack stronger along the way.
“Our non-conference schedule was set-up to see where we need to be going into conference. Our next opponent, Troy University, has nice guard play but they’re post play is vulnerable. If we can get Adama (Mballow, sociology sophomore) and Kim (Rigg) to keep improving, we should close up that hole in the inside.”
Santana Seay led the Hornets (5-1) with 30 points.
Loyola takes on Troy University in Troy, Ala., Sunday.
