Wolfpack eliminate Lady Pilots with 58-49 win in Round One of GCAC Tournament
March 02, 2006
New Orleans, LA---Despite having out shot and out rebounded the Loyola University Wolfpack Wednesday night, the LSUS Lady Pilots dropped a 58-49 decision in round one of the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Wolfpack jumped out to an early 7-0 run in the first minute of play forcing LSUS to call a timeout at the 18:57 mark. The Lady Pilots responded with an 11-4 run and led 11-10 at the 14:16 mark which was capped by a Jessica Kelly three-pointer
Rachel Kovach added six points off the bench for the Wolfpack in the first half which highlighted a 15-5 run giving LU a 25-16 lead with 4:00 remaining in the half.
LSUS cut the lead five points and trailed 30-25 at the break after a solid half of basketball on both ends of the court.
“I thought we did a good job on both ends of the court. The difference in the half came from the free-throw line and they did a good job of capitalizing on their attempts,” commented Lady Pilots Head Coach Ronnie Howell at the intermission.
The Lady Pilots responded in the second half with a n 18-9 run and built a 41-37 lead at the 13:54 mark after back-to-back steals and fast break lay-ups by Moche Roque and Amanda Castle.
A three-point bucket by Kiely Schork and a three-point play the old fashion way by Marjorie Bilinski gave the Wolfpack a 45-43 lead at the 9:02 mark.
LU stretched their lead to 54-43 with 4:16 remaining which proved to be too much of a deficit for the sputtering Lady Pilot offense that scored just six points in the last 10:30 of the half.
“They never stop moving on either end of the court. They did a good job defensively and we just did not capitalize down the stretch. Our girls played very hard and they should be very proud of the way they played tonight,” commented Howell.
The Wolfpack defense committed just four fouls throughout the first 36:00 minutes of the contest which kept the Lady Pilots off the free-throw line which was a big part of this seasons success. LSUS finished just 2-of-3 from the line while the Wolfpack poured in 19-of-23 attempts.
Bilinksi led the LU offense with 15 points and a game high 11 rebounds. Trenell Smith added 11 points while Dani Holland added nine points and eight rebounds.
The Lady Pilots outrebounded the Wolfpack by a 42-35 margin and held them to just 16-of-56 (28%) from the floor. Kelly led all scorers with 17 points and 10 rebounds while senior center Marcia Spyhalski added eight points and six rebounds.
Wednesday night’s loss marked the end of the road for the Lady Pilots in the 2006 season. At 13-12 overall on the year, the 2006 Lady Pilot team tied the LSUS record for single wins in a single season, and captured a winning record for the first time in three years. Congratulations on a great season!
