On Saturday, January 20th, The Loyola Ramblers (10-8, 3-3 A10) defeated The St. Bonaventure Bonnies (4-14, 1-6 A10) in Gentile Arena by a score 78-50. They secured their tenth of the season, fourth in conference play, and the sole possession of 7th place in the Atlantic 10 standings.
Loyola remained confident and in control from tip-off to the final whistle – a complete 180 from their conference-opening matchup against the Bonnies on December 30th. They led by double digits at the halftime break and exploded for 40 second half-points.
Contrarily, St. Bonaventure shot a measly 8-31 over the final two quarters and turned the ball over 19 times. Junior Isabellah Middleton and senior Dani Haskell led the team with 13 points apiece.
Graduate guard Alyssa Fisher led all scorers with 24 points, but it was a day to remember for another fifth-year player – de facto captain Sam Galanopoulos. She scored 16 points, and with 4:08 remaining in the game, notched her 1000th and 1001st career points with a putback layup.
The Loyola bench erupted in cheers and a standing ovation was given for the Skokie, Illinois native at the next dead ball.
In the postgame press conference, she expressed her pride to represent Loyola and added she was thankful for the support of her teammates and coaches.
“You can’t score a thousand points unless they throw you the ball,” she said. “They have a lot of trust in me, they give me confidence every single day.”
When asked about Galanopoulos’ impact on the program, head coach Alison Guth gave an anecdote about a team-bonding event dubbed the “Human Potential Workshop.”
Each of the Ramblers spent 60 seconds in the “Appreciation Chair,” while teammates gave words of affirmation. For Galanopoulos, traits like “work ethic,” “grit and toughness” and “leadership” were most commonly acknowledged.
“For me as a coach, for that kid to be committed to us and believe in our vision for what the program is,” she said. “You can’t even put it into words how proud and happy you are for her.”
For a team that won just one conference game in their first A10 season – and projected to finish dead last in this year’s A10 Talk preseason polls – the Ramblers have been playing at a level nobody could have imagined.
Guth’s squad begins a two-game road trip in the Bronx Wednesday evening against the Fordham Rams (6-12, 1-6 A10), with a chance to win their third game in a row.
The second-year head coach said the team is treating the future schedule as “faceless opponents” and they plan to keep improving with each game that passes.
“It’s more about who Loyola was in Day 1 when we opened up Gentile against UIC here, which I cannot get out of my mind as a coach, to who we are today and the journey and process of growing,” she said.
