Jan. 29, 2011
Box Score
Dayton, Ohio - Loyola rallied from a 10-point, second-half deficit to lead by as many as eight but Wright State's LaShawna Thomas knocked down a three-pointer with one second left to lift the Raiders to a 77-76 win over the Ramblers this afternoon at McLin Gymnasium in Dayton, Ohio. Loyola drops to 9-11 (3-6 Horizon) with the loss while Wright State improves to 13-7 (6-3) with the win.
In what turned out to be a theme for the Ramblers today, they opened the game hot from the three-point line, knocking down four treys en route to an early 14-7 lead. Wright State managed to chip away and eventually pulled even at 20 on a Molly Fox hoop. A three-pointer from KC Elkins gave WSU its first lead of the day (25-24) and the home team led by as many as six before taking a 42-37 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Ramblers roared out of the locker room, scoring the first seven points to retake the lead, 44-42. Wright State was able to regroup and rattled off the next nine points to take a seven-point lead and another Fox basket gave the hosts their largest lead of the game, 61-51, at the 11:49 mark. Monica Albano knocked down a three-pointer to stem the tide and the Ramblers, again, got hot from the arc. After a Brittany Boeke two-point basket, treys from Katie Kortekamp, Albano and Lindsey Sebetic pushed the Ramblers into the lead and Sebetic capped off a 19-2 run with a hoop to give LU a 70-63 lead with 6:44 to play. Another Kortekamp triple minutes later gave LU an eight-point edge with just over four minutes to play but Wright State pieced together one last run.
Two LaShawna Thomas free throws cut the Loyola lead to four and a Shaunda Sandifer free throw and two from Courtney Boyd made it a 75-74 game with 32 seconds left, setting up a wild finish. Albano split a pair from the line to make it a 76-74 game with 30 seconds left and the Ramblers forced a turnover at the other end. Wright State's bench was assessed a technical foul after the call but Loyola missed both free throws to keep the lead at just two. Loyola inbounded and was fouled with seven seconds left but missed the front-end and Thomas came down and buried the game-winner.
Boeke had a terrific game, leading the Ramblers with 18 points and nine rebounds. She was joined in double figures by Abby Skube (15 points), Albano (14) and Sebetic (13). The Ramblers tied a single-game school record by drilling 13 three-pointers and shot 52% from the arc (13-25), a figure that was negated by a 7-of-14 (50%) effort from the free throw line. Fox led Wright State with 26 points and added 11 boards as the Raiders enjoyed a 55-31 edge on the glass that led to an 18-2 advantage in second chance points.
Loyola takes the week off before opening the second half of its Horizon League season next Saturday at UIC.
