Up against the Xavier Golden Nugget’s 26 home game winning streak, the Lady Wolfpack had a golden opportunity to cement their names in Loyola’s athletic history books Jan. 29.
Xavier’s gymnasium, “The Barn,” is known for being a tough place to play, as evidenced by their remarkable record of winning 74 basketball games of the past 76 games played there. That day wasn’t different as Xavier won, 49-42.
With a new coaching staff and four new players this year, the ‘Pack had a lot working for them, however they had never beaten Xavier on the road, carrying an abysmal 0-12 record all-time against its cross-town Gulf Coast Athletic Conference opponent.
In addition, half their team had never played at the “Barn” before.
“Records are meant to be broken and streaks are meant to be stopped. I tried to get my team to buy into the fact that we can change that,” said Kellie Kennedy, head basketball coach.
Loyola entered the game hoping everything that happened in the past remained in the past and the outcome would be different this time. Nevertheless, history persisted in repeating itself.
The loss is the second consecutive game Loyola failed to defeat Xavier – The previous defeat last season ended with a desperate shot with seven-tenths of a second left in regulation.
The Wolfpack, seeking revenge from the loss they suffered a year ago, struggled early against Xavier’s defense.
They turned the ball over five times, five of the twenty-five turnovers that Loyola had the entire game, which lead to an early 7-0 Xavier lead.
According to Kennedy, those turnovers resulted from the trap defense Xavier played.
“Xavier likes to trap and do different things so you don’t know what to expect next,” she said. “I don’t think our team anticipated what was coming to them”.
After a brief timeout, Loyola regained its composure on offense and put together a 13-6 run that tied the game on two free throws by Trenese Smith, business management senior.
Loyola and Xavier traded points back and forth throughout the first half — seven of the Wolfpack points coming from the charity stripe after Loyola entered into the bonus. The half ended tied up at 26.
Smith hit a three-pointer in the second half, giving the ‘Pack the lead at 35-30, their largest lead of the game.
From there, Xavier gained momentum scoring eight straight points to take the lead 45-43.
Loyola made several attempts to come from behind, but their efforts fell short as time expired.
The team shot poorly and struggled to get good shots, shooting 23.1 percent on 12 of 52 field goals the entire game.
“The defense they played against us forced us into taking quick and bad shots. We just didn’t have good shot selection,” said Smith, who credited Xavier’s defense.
Coach Kennedy believes that her team didn’t perform as well as they could have, but that it had nothing to do with Xavier’s record or streaks at the “Barn”.
“I think it just has a stigma to it, which is probably the biggest thing”, she said.
“I think it’s just changing the belief that it isn’t as tough — it is, however, hard to hear and hard to communicate to my team on the floor though.”
Trenell Smith, management senior, led the Wolfpack scorers with 14 points. Trenese added 10 points and three assists.
“This loss is in the past.” Trenell said. “We have to look ahead to the next game.”
Kennedy said the team wouldn’t dwell on this game because they will learn from their mistakes and improve for the next game when they play Mobile, Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.
Craig Malveaux can be reached at [email protected].
