Glover's Layup Gives Women's Basketball 52-51 Win Over Loyola

Junior center converts with 5.1 seconds left to give Green Bay outright League title

Lavesa Glover's layup with 5.1 seconds remaining gave Green Bay a 52-51 win over Loyola Saturday.

Feb. 23, 2008

CHICAGO - The Green Bay women's basketball team (22-4, 14-1) won its ninth straight game in heart-pounding fashion Saturday afternoon, as Green Bay's Lavesa Glover converted on a layup with 5.1 seconds left to boost Green Bay to a 52-51 victory.

With the win, Green Bay secured home court advantage for the Horizon League Championship to be held March 10-16. The Phoenix captured its 10th straight Horizon League title with this week's victories, including the team's eighth outright title.

Loyola (9-19, 4-10) trailed 50-43 with 2:45 to go and rallied with eight straight points over the next 2:33, and with a pair of free throws by Elyse VanBogaert with 11.8 seconds remaining, the Ramblers took a 51-50 lead.

Green Bay's Kati Harty immediately drove down the other end of the floor and pulled the Loyola defense to the left, leaving Glover wide open for the right-handed layup. The Ramblers had one last chance, but Taryn Randle's shot came after the final horn.

"Give Loyola credit, they came out hard and wanted this game," said Green Bay head coach Matt Bollant. "They played with passion and took us out of what we wanted to do."

Glover along with senior Kayla Groh led Green Bay with 13 points on a day where the Phoenix struggled offensively. Green Bay shot just 32.6 percent from the field and was a season-worst 1-of-10 from three-point range.

"It's been a while since we have shot poorly; we just couldn't get into a rhythm," said Bollant. "Fortunately we were able to get the free throw line and make shots."

Green Bay went 21-of-26 from the line, with Groh leading the way with a 9-of-10 mark. Loyola was just 3-of-7 at the free throw line on the day.

"It's good for us to play in a close game. I thought we showed a lot of poise down the stretch."

Defensively, the Phoenix held Loyola to 38.2 percent shooting and had just 12 personal fouls in keeping the Ramblers off the free throw line.

Neither team had more than an eight-point lead on the day, with Green Bay taking that margin midway through the second half. The game had five ties and six lead changes, including two in the final 12 seconds.

Maggie McCloskey and Jessica Hylton each had 13 points, with both notching a trio of three-pointers as Loyola was 6-of-18 from long range.

Green Bay concludes the regular season with three straight home contests, starting March 1 against instate rival Milwaukee at 1 p.m. at the Kress Center.