Shorthanded Loyola turns Navy aside

Hounds women advance; Towson men fall

During the course of the season, the size of the Loyola Maryland’s women’s basketball roster went from 13 players down to six. That attrition cost the Greyhounds a shot at a far better season than the four wins they had accumulated headed into the final week of the season.

Their firepower proved more than enough Saturday afternoon, though, as the Greyhounds rode a record-setting rebounding performance by junior Stephanie Karcz in downing Navy, 58-45, at Reitz Arena in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.

Led by Karcz’s Patriot League Tournament-record 22 rebounds, Loyola used a huge advantage in that department and its physically enthusiastic play inside to offset a poor shooting night (37.3 percent). The Greyhound dominated the backboards to the tune of 46-26 and used tenacious interior defense to force the Midshipmen to settle for perimeter shots.

That proved a recipe for failure as Navy just 2 of 21 3-point attempts and finished with 18-for-58 (31 percent from the field overall.

Karcz also tied the school-record for career steals on Saturday, swiping two to run her three-year total to 188.

“We have been through a lot this year,” Loyola head coach Joe Logan said. “We have persevered and persevered, and then we had to beat a tough team like Navy (twice) to get to this point.”

Loyola suffered through injuries or illness to seven different players and rarely had the same seven on the court for back-to-back games.

“We were unlucky. We had an ACL, a kid gets a head injury, a sprained ankle, a kid gets mono, on down the list,” Logan explained. “It’s okay to have seven or eight, but it’s never been the same group. That’s where the challenge was. Finally, this is the third game in a row where we had solid unit.

“Life’s lessons. There were a lot of life’s lessons learned this year. The players handled it well,” Logan added.

The eighth-seeded Greyhounds had earned the homecourt advantage for this game with a come-from-behind win over the Mids last Saturday and an upset of fourth-place Boston University on Wednesday. Now sporting a threegame winning streak, Loyola (7-23) plays at top-seeded Bucknell (25-5) in Monday’s (6 p.m.) quarterfinals.

“We’re playing with house money at this point. Ir will be fun,” Logan said of his team’s late-season winning streak.

Navy (10-19) finished the season with its fifth straight loss. It was the worst season in head coach Stefanie Pemper’s 22-year career. Prior to this season, Pemper’s poorest season in Annapolis was a 15-15 squad in 2015-16.

Men

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JAMES MADISON 74, TOWSON 73: The Tigers concluded their season with a loss to James Madison in the first round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament at the North Charleston Coliseum Saturday.

James Madison guard Matt Lewis made a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds remaining from the top of the key to win the game. Towson’s last second shot hit the backboard as time expired. The Tigers finished the 2018-19 season with a 10-22 record. James Madison (14-18) advances to face No. 1 seed Hofstra in Sunday’s quarterfinals.