If she keeps this up, Loyola is going to become spoiled.
Just five days and one game after breaking the Loyola scoring record with 37 points against Spring Hill, Trenese Smith did it again, scoring 39 points in a 96-57 win against Dillard University.
And after leading her team to a 75-53 win last Saturday against Southern University of New Orleans, the management junior earned her first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics National Player of the Week award to go along with her second consecutive Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week award.
That’s her fourth – an unprecedented number as the team continues into the second half of the season.
Since beginning conference play on Jan. 3, the Lady ‘Pack have demolished opponents, scoring 84 points a game and winning by an average of 25 points.
Now Loyola is in the midst of a 23 game win-streak against GCAC opponents that dates back to Jan. 13, 2007.
“Since we won 17 in a row last year, once we start going like this we feel like it’s going to be the same thing, that we’re not going to lose confidence anymore,” management senior Christine Mainguy said. “I think we’d be extremely disappointed if we lost anymore.”
In that win against Dillard University, Loyola had its highest scoring output since scoring 103 points on Nov. 20, 2004.
The outcome was never in doubt. The team led 48-24 at halftime, largely fueled by Smith’s 10 three-pointers – another Loyola record, which tied a 1994 record for most in GCAC history. Management junior Trenell Smith, Trenese’s twin sister, had 10 assists and Kiely Schork, mass communication senior, added 19 points.
The Wolfpack kept the fans on their toes against Southern. At halftime they led 33-30 and struggled to show the same spark that they had in previous weeks.
“This is not a conference that you can come out to a slow start and overcome it every night,” head coach Dobee Plaisance said. “We have been blessed in doing so, but we need to get our focus on that first half because one of these times it’s going to come back to get us.”
Trenell Smith quickly got the fans back on their feet after scoring on two consecutive possessions. The team got the job done on the other end of the court as well, keeping Southern scoreless for the first two minutes of the half. After a 10-1 run with eleven minutes left, the ‘Pack were sitting pretty with a 55-35 lead.
From there, it was all Loyola.
Mainguy was a menace in the paint all night, finishing with 8 points and a game-high 7 rebounds. Trenese Smith finished with 16 points.
Now Loyola just has to stay focused, Plaisance. “I think we have a bright future ahead of us if we take care of what we need to take care of.”
Chad Bower can be reached at [email protected].
