Waiting game is finally over
Loyola Maryland happy to be back after 301 days
In the grand scheme of women’s basketball in the Patriot League, Bucknell’s weekend sweep of Loyola Maryland was a frustrating way to open the 2020-21 campaign. That the Greyhounds got an opportunity to begin the season, however, was a victory of sorts.
“We’re very grateful,” sophomore forward Emily McAteer said Sunday night after Loyola’s 59-44 setback to the visiting Bison at Reitz Arena in Baltimore. “There are people out there that don’t get this opportunity, and we’re taking it every day that we can as a blessing.”
When the Greyhounds suffered a 72-44 rout at Bucknell on Saturday, that marked their first game since a loss to Army West Point in the first round of the conference tournament on March 7, 2020 — a span of 301 days exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. And the Bison were not Loyola’s original opponent as games against American were postponed by a positive COVID-19 test among the Eagles’ Tier 1 personnel.
The global crisis spurred by the coronavirus influenced the Patriot League to delay the start of the basketball season until this past weekend for all member schools except for Navy and Army. The cautious approach was understandable, but was no less chafing for the players who view the court as a welcomed outlet from the pressure associated with schoolwork, social media and other hallmarks of college living.
“Sometimes I leave practice and I forget that there’s a pandemic,” senior forward Delaney Connolly quipped. “It’s like, ‘Thank goodness we get to be here to play basketball,’ because we were so unsure. There are so many unknowns, and I think at the end of the day, we just have to be grateful and take it one day at a time because we never know if we’re going to get a positive or if the season will be canceled. So I think every day, you come in and say, ‘I’m grateful to be here.’ ”
The program’s return to the gymnasium is not without its pitfalls. Beyond the constant specter of the coronavirus that has already forced the men’s team to temporarily suspend its season, the women’s team must compensate for the graduation of three starters. That group includes shooting guard Stephanie Karcz, who was the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year after leading all Division I players in steals at 5.2 per game and the Greyhounds in scoring (11.6), rebounds (9.4) and assists (3.6); point guard Alexis Gray, who converted 147 3-pointers to rank third in school history; and shooting guard Hannah Niles, who was the only player to start all 30 games last season.
The lack of offensive punch was noticeable during the weekend against a Bucknell squad that captured the Patriot League regular-season title last winter after compiling a 24-6 overall record and a 16-2 conference mark and is favored again to claim the crown this year. (By comparison, Loyola was voted seventh in the league’s preseason poll.)
For the weekend, the Greyhounds shot just 27.5% (30-for-109) from the floor and only 12.5% (4-for-32) from three-point land.
“We like a lot of things we did tonight, and we’re starting to see it,” said coach Joe Logan, a 1996 Loyola graduate who is the winningest coach in program history with 184 victories. “But we weren’t able to run as much against these guys, and we weren’t able to press as much. So that will be the next thing. Can we do those things? But I really like tonight howwe competed. If wedo that, it doesn’t matter.”
On the defensive end, the unit had few answers for Bison 5-9 sophomore point guard Taylor O’Brien, who totaled 32 points, eight rebounds and four steals in both wins, and 6-1 junior forward Tessa Brugler, who finished with 26 points and 19 rebounds in the two games.
But there are some signs of optimism. Junior forward Taleah Dixon, a 5-10 Baltimore resident and McDonogh graduate who was named to the Patriot League’s All-Rookie team in 2019 before sitting out last season because of an unspecified injury, followed up her 14-point effort on Saturday with eight points and four rebounds Sunday. And McAteer bounced back from a threepoint effort on Saturday with 14 points and collected 16 rebounds and five blocks in the two games. The hope is that 6-1 senior forward Isabella Therien will return from a foot injury to regain the form that contributed to her leading Loyola in scoring in 2018 en route to earning Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors and in 2019. And junior guard Devyne Newman, a 5-foot-8 transfer from St. Joseph’s who was named the Best Defensive Player by her teammates last season, scored 16 points on Saturday before being limited to five points and three assists on Sunday.