Jan. 30, 2008

Detroit (3-15, 0-7) at Loyola (3-15, 1-6)
Date: January 31, 2008
Time: 4:45 p.m.
Arena: Joseph J. Gentile Center
Location: Chicago, Ill.
Series: 55th Meeting - Detroit leads 36-18
Webstreaming: Horizon League Network

Loyola Game Notes in PDF Format

Tonight's Game: Loyola aims to get back on the winning track tonight when it plays host to Detroit in the first game of a crucial, two-game weekend homestand at the Gentile Center. The Ramblers hung with Milwaukee, the preseason Horizon League favorite, all the way until the end in an eventual 54-51 loss on Saturday and hope to use their home games to make up some ground in the standings. The short-handed Titans, who suffered home losses to Butler and Valparaiso last weekend, have dropped five consecutive games and are in search of their first Horizon League win.

Ramblers/Titans - The Series: Tonight is the 55th meeting between the longtime conference foes - Loyola's longest-running series - with Detroit holding a 36-18 edge in the all-time series. The Ramblers took two of three meetings with the Titans last season, including sweeping the regular season series for the first time in 18 years (1988-89), but Detroit gained a measure of revenge with a 75-68 win in a Horizon League First Round tournament game at the Gentile Center. Detroit owns a 15-11 edge in games in Chicago.

This Land (of Lincoln) Is Our Land: Loyola's 2007-08 roster has a distinct local flare with all 12 players coming from the state of Illinois and 10 of the 12 coming from the Chicagoland area. In fact, Brittany Boeke had the longest trek to Loyola (72 miles from Cherry Valley, Ill. to Loyola's campus) with Elyse VanBogaert second (60 miles from Elburn, Ill.).

Maybe This Gang Can Shoot Straight ...: After struggling to put the ball in the basket throughout much of the non-conference season, Loyola seems to have finally found some continuity on the offensive end in the early stages of Horizon League play. In the nine games following the Ramblers' break for final exams in mid-December (including all seven Horizon League games), Loyola has shot at least 40% in each (LU shot 44.7% on Saturday at Milwaukee), including three games where they hit more than 50% of their shots. That is in stark contrast to LU's performance before exams, where the squad shot over 40% just three times in nine outings.

Defense Wins Games: Even with just three wins thus far this season, a glance at the stats shows the importance of playing solid defense. In those wins, the Ramblers have held their opponents to 36.3% shooting from the floor and taken care of the glass to the tune of a +11.3 rebounding margin. Those numbers are in sharp contrast to 43.6% shooting by its opponents and a -10.1 rebounding margin in its 15 losses. Loyola enjoyed a big 37-26 edge on the backboards against Valpo and is 3-1 this year when winning the rebounding battle.

Give Me All Three of These ...: Sophomore Maggie McCloskey has continued to build on her strong freshman season. A Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team pick, the Riverside, Ill. native drilled 73 three-pointers last season, good for second on Loyola's single-season list, and finished 19th in the country (fourth among freshmen) with 2.61 3FGM per game. McCloskey has picked up right where she left, knocking down 59 treys in LU's first 18 games (3.28/game), and she moved past Lori Esser into seventh on the Ramblers' all-time list against Youngstown State. With 19 points in the loss to the Penguins, McCloskey surpassed the 500-career point mark and enters play tonight with 561 points.

Here's Looking At You, Kid: Sophomore Elyse VanBogaert's improvement has been one of the many positives for the Ramblers this season. After an up-and-down freshman season, VanBogaert has been steady this season, ranking second on the team in both scoring (11.9 ppg) and rebounding (5.1 rpg) while shooting a solid 54.1% from the floor. She has two double-doubles to her credit this season (Texas-Pan American, UIC) but has struggled a little bit recently, reaching double figures just once (UIC) in her last four games, averaging 8.3 ppg in that span.

Turnover Trouble: One of Loyola's long-time bugaboos reared its ugly head on Thursday night as the Ramblers turned the ball over 31 times in their 78-52 loss to the Phoenix. The last six minutes of the first half were a particularly difficult stretch as, after LU had pulled within 33-28, the Ramblers turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions and fell behind 46-30 at intermission. In fact, Green Bay enjoyed a whopping 28-2 edge in points off turnovers in the opening 20 minutes alone and a 38-6 advantage for the game.

Collins the Catalyst: After sitting out last season according to NCAA transfer rules, Keisha Collins has proven to be a valuable addition to the Loyola backcourt. The sophomore point guard has been the team's catalyst all season and enters play tonight with season averages of 10.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg and 4.8 apg, helping her to an assist/turnover ratio of 1.7:1. Collins finally found the range from deep in the win over Valpo, knocking down all four of her three-point attempts (after going just 4-for-25 in the first 13 games) and she has reached double figures in six of LU's seven Horizon League games, averaging 12.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg and 4.4 apg against conference foes. She was uncharacteristically sloppy in the loss to Milwaukee, turning the ball over a season-high five times (against just one assist) and was held without a free throw attempt for the first time in 11 games (Nov. 29, at Illinois State).

The Answers Are In The First 20 Minutes: One gauge for forecasting the outcome of Loyola's games has been its first-half performance. This season, Loyola is 3-0 when tied or leading at the half and 0-15 when behind at intermission. This has just been the continuance of a trend over the last few years, as the Ramblers are just 2-80 in their last 82 games when trailing at halftime, including a streak of 54 consecutive losses that was snapped last season at Dayton.

Doin' Fine From 19'9'': Led by Maggie McCloskey's 59, Loyola has hit 99 shots from behind the three-point line this season to keep intact a streak that has seen the Ramblers hit at least one three-pointer in 321 consecutive games dating back to March, 1996, when they were blanked from the arc in their season-ending loss to Green Bay (Mar. 7, 1996). The Ramblers, led by four each from McCloskey and Collins, knocked down a season-high 10 treys (10-22, 45.5%) in the win over Valpo.

Shake-n-Boeke: Freshman Brittany Boeke has put together a terrific first season in Rogers Park and looks to keep it going this weekend. The Cherry Valley, Ill. native is averaging 7.2 ppg and 6.2 rpg through 18 games (17 starts) while shooting 50.0% from the floor and 78.4% from the line. She has been playing solid basketball of late, averaging 9.0 ppg on 20-of-31 (64.5%) shooting over the last five games, and scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half to fuel Loyola's comeback at Milwaukee on Saturday.

Even The Prodigal Son Came Home Faster: After playing exactly 2/3rds (12 of 18) of its games away from the Gentile Center, Loyola finally returns home for a pair of games this week. The Ramblers, who went 36 days in between home games earlier this season, are 2-4 this season on their home court, including a 64-60 win over Valparaiso on Jan. 12 in their last appearance here.

Reunited And It Feels So Good: In addition to the three recruits listed below, Loyola has added a fourth member to that class. After spending the first semester at Cincinnati, 6-foot-3 freshman Caitlin Pauley has transfered to Loyola and is practicing with the team. Due to NCAA transfer rules, Pauley must sit out a year and she will be eligible for the second semester of the 2008-09 season. Pauley and Keisha Collins were teammates at Marian Catholic and Pauley played her first two seasons at the south suburban school for Reidy.

Re-Stocking The Cupboard: Head coach Shannon Reidy and her staff have announced the signing of three recruits to National Letters of Intent. Forward Ellen Ayoub (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) and guards Lisa Samplawski (Portage, Ind./Portage) and Lindsey Sebetic (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) all put pen to paper during the early signing period and will join the Rambler family next season.