The Loyola Ramblers (13-14, 7-9 A10) completed a season sweep of the Massachusetts Minutewomen (3-25, 1-15 A10) on Wednesday night in Gentile Arena, winning 64-52.
It wasn’t the prettiest of starts for Loyola. They chose to be aggressive early, with 12 of their 20 first quarter shots coming from behind the three point arc.
They only saw two of those go through the net, which allowed UMass to take an early lead. However, the Ramblers did enough to go back in front at the end of the first quarter, 17-12.
Head coach Allison Guth said that the team leadership shone through and helped change the momentum of the game.
“The leadership of Sitori Tanin, being able to be a consistent presence on the interior was huge for us,” she said. “When we started scoring the ball outside in the second quarter, Ali Berg got hot from there.”
Tanin led all players with 18 points and 7 rebounds on the evening – 4 of which came on the offensive glass. Berg added 16 and shot 5/11 from three-point land.
The second quarter saw the “on” switch light up for the Ramblers. Quick baskets from graduate guard Sam Galanopoulos and sophomore guard Kira Chivers out of the break pushed the Ramblers’ lead to 9.
Head coach Mike Leflar called a 30-second timeout for the Minutewomen with just over seven minutes remaining, but the damage might have already been done.
The Ramblers went on a run as big as 16-3 that overlapped the first two periods and they led by 11 at the halftime break.
The Minutewomen could not match Loyola’s offensive firepower and trailed by double digits for all but 16 seconds across the final 20 minutes.
Berg said that it “felt really good” to get back in the win column and Tanin agreed that it will boost team morale – especially after some close losses against Davidson and Richmond.
“After some long travel weeks in the A10, it can get [to be] a lot for a team, so this win was huge,” Tanin said.
The Ramblers snapped their three-game losing streak and are now one game under .500 with two games remaining on their schedule. Conversely, the Minutewomen have lost 14 straight and seem to be in a similar place the Ramblers were just a year ago.
Tanin, Berg and four other Rambler seniors will be honored at Senior Day on Sunday afternoon. They face a Dayton Flyers (11-15, 5-10 A10) squad fresh off of a forfeit win against Davidson and a JUCO scrimmage matchup as a substitute.
Guth said that after 19 years in coaching, this team and its seniors have stuck out to her in a way beyond words.
“This is a group of women who play for one another,” she said. “That can only happen if there’s leadership and buy-in.”
Tipoff is set for 2 pm CST and will be broadcast on ESPN+.