After losing its first two games of the season to nationally ranked teams in Tennessee, the Loyola women’s basketball team duplicated its first weekend with losses to No. 3 Union and No. 10 Lambuth.
In the first game of the weekend road trip, the Wolfpack fell 106-72 against Lambuth, which had six players score in double figures.
Loyola’s Stacia Jackson, communications sophomore, had a game-high 22 points and Carlee White, co-captain and political science junior, chipped in 12 points.
The key period of the game occurred in the second half when Loyola went on a nine-minute scoring drought.
“We were only down seven points at halftime but nine minutes without scoring doesn’t do it,” Head Coach Dobee Plaisance said. “We couldn’t find the basket. We were executing but the shots were just not falling. We were playing right with them but put ourselves in a deficit we couldn’t overcome.”
The ‘Pack (0-4) then fell the next night to No. 3 Union by the score of 90-38.
White continued her strong performances with 14 points and five rebounds.
Union advanced to the semifinals of the national tournament last year and lost in double overtime. They returned all but one of the starters for this season.
Still, Plaisance said the ‘Pack played hard and stayed in the game for a good portion of the contest.
“They didn’t come and blow us out,” she said. “We hung around and were only down 12 points at halftime. I don’t want to take away anything from Union because they were good, but I was pleased with our effort. The main factor was our poor execution and committing too many turnovers.”
Despite the 0-4 start, White maintains that the ‘Pack continues to improve as a team and will eventually have success.
“We’re coming together more as a team,” White said. “We’re learning about each other and beginning to read each other a lot better. We’ve had people step up in each game and when everyone does, then we’ll get our wins.”
Plaisance says she agrees with White’s assessment and believes the ‘Pack is coming more together as a team.
“I’m encouraged that we will get better and the outcome will be a little different,” she said. “The team has grown together by understanding each other better as individuals and what each player brings to the team.”
Now, the team has nearly two weeks off and needs the time to prepare for its next two games.
Plaisance said the team will break down the offense to better enhance the team’s ability to execute the system.
The next two games are against Division I schools (Southeastern Louisiana University and the University of New Orleans).
White insists the team will be prepared to face those two schools.
“We’ve been working really hard to get ready for the challenge,” she said.
