Ready to go after a two-game winning streak, the ‘Pack entered Thursday’s Gulf Coast Athletic Conference match-up against the University of Mobile Rams. Although they had 23 turnovers, they came out on top, 76-59.
Trenese Smith, management junior, is on pace to break the ‘Pack career scoring mark of 1,866 set by Keily Schork, A’ 08. Schork, an occasional assistant coach for the Lady ‘Pack, attended the game.
Schork said she was happy for Trenese. “I know it’s going to happen because she scores like 50 points per game. It was nice while it lasted. She’s competitive and deserves it and am glad that she is the one who might break it,” she said.
Even though she enjoys watching the games and supporting her former teammates, she said it’s tough viewing them from the stands instead of playing with them on the court.
Being at the game is important for her because she wants to support her former teammates. “We’re all great friends and know they can always count on me and I can count on them, and being here today is important to me,” she said.
Trenese Smith feels honored to be inching closer to Schork’s record. “It feels good because Kiely was one of the greatest players that played here. Me being close to breaking the record is cool because we will be the two who broke the records,” she said.
Loyola was successful all night scoring close to the basket, outscoring their opponent by six points with 36. They also dominated the Rams in rebounds, with 47. Christine Mainguy, management senior, led the team with 12.
She said her success rebounding has to do with what she practiced that week. “We focused on boxing them out because they’re pretty intent on the offensive rebound. As a team they give off many offensive rebounds, and I think we were just the more intense team out there today,” Mainguy said.
In addition to her presence as a rebounder, she scored nine points, but feels there is room for improvement as a scorer. “I want to become more of a force on the offensive end, not just rebounding,” she said.
Their success in scoring had to do with unselfishness on the court by Loyola. They had 16 assists, with two players Garkeiva Council, sociology freshman, and Trenese leading the way with five each.
On more than one occasion, Trenese and Trenell Smith passed each other the ball, leading to points. “We know each other’s game — one of us penetrates and the other sets up to shoot the ball. It’s simple, so we do it all the time,” Trenese said.
As a team, they struggled passing the ball to their teammates, resulting in 23 turnovers, 10 more than their opponent.
After the game, Loyola Head Coach Kellie Kennedy said the turnovers could be due to the players relaxing due to the big lead.
“I think in the first half we came out extremely focused and extremely fired up and I think in the second half we got a little complacent with the way we were in the game. I think we felt we had it well in hand and we lost our focus in the second half,” she said.
Kennedy has come to expect good performances every game from Trenese and Mainguy saying, “I’m not surprised with their numbers today. Trenese is averaging almost 20 points per game. I think Trenell had a tremendous day. Her stat line is unbelievable. As a team we shot the ball extremely well,” she said, “and it’s Christine’s goal every game to have a double-double.”
Despite having 23 turnovers, Kennedy is confident her team will bounce back. “It’s a game to game thing. They pressed us at the end and they’re very athletic. We lost our focus but I don’t think that’s a huge problem for us. We just have to execute better and make better decisions with the basketball,” she said.
Eduardo Gonzalez can be reached at [email protected].
