Army ousts Loyola in Patriot League tournament

Army West Point took the lead early and never let up as the Black Knights beat host Loyola Maryland, 72-65, in the first round of the Patriot League tournament in women’s basketball Saturday at Retiz Arena.

The Greyhounds finished their season 8-22.

Army (9-21) opened with a 5-0 run with 8:17 left in the first quarter as Morgan Yancey made a 3-pointer and Alisa Fallon made a layup. The Black Knights would increase their lead to 13 points with 6:58 left in the third quarter.

Loyola was led by Hannah Niles with 16 points, Stephanie Karcz with 14 points and Alexis Gray with 13 points.

Army advances to face top-seeded host Bucknell in Monday’s quarterfinal at 6 p.m.

Elon 68, Towson 52: The visiting Tigers (14-15, 9-9 Colonial Athletic Association) had their shooting go cold over the final 3:26 and fell to the host Phoenix.

Qierra Murray (Milford Mill) had 13 points for Towson. Ariel Colon had 17 points and Kayla Liles (McDonogh) had 16 points for Elon. The loss was the third in a row.

The victory ended a five-game losing streak.

American 63, Navy 53: The visiting Mids (7-23) took an early 13-7 lead, but fell behind and lost to the Eagles (13-16) in a Patriot League first round game.

Morgan Taylor scored a game-high 21 points for Navy and Mary Kate Ulasewicz added 16 points.

American was led by Emily Fisher with 18 points and Kaitlyn Marenyi and Jade Edwards each with 14 points.

The game featured four lead changes and the Eagles led by as many as 10 points.