CHICAGO (January 9, 2023) – In the first road trip of the new year, Loyola (6-10, 1-2 A-10) travels to Philadelphia for Tuesday night's matchup against Saint Joseph's (13-2, 3-0 A-10), starting a two-game swing to the East Coast against two of the three remaining unbeaten teams in Atlantic 10 Conference play. Tipoff against the Hawks is set for 6 p.m. inside Hagan Arena with the first-ever meeting between the two programs airing live on ESPN+.
LAST TIME OUT
Loyola fell 76-59 against UMass Saturday in a second straight home defeat after starting league play with a road win. Junior forward
Sitori Tanin returned to the starting lineup after working her way back from injury, recording a career-high 19 points on 8-of-11 shooting for her sixth double-digit scoring performance. Senior forward
Emma Nolan posted a season-high 12 points including three made 3-pointers in just her second start as a Rambler, while
Maya Chandler reached double figures with 10 points. Loyola outscored UMass 34-22 in points inside the paint and grabbed 11 steals – the team's fifth game with 10 or more steals.
SERIES STUFF
Tuesday's matchup is the first meeting against Saint Joseph's in program history. In total, Loyola's 2022-23 schedule features 15 first-time opponents. Prior to this season, the Ramblers only previously played three of its 14 current conference opponents including Dayton, La Salle and Saint Louis. The Ramblers have already played a first-time opponent six times this season (3-3) featuring Virginia, Saint Francis (PA), Elon, Idaho State, Richmond and UMass.
SCOUTING SAINT JOSEPH'S
The Hawks are coming off a 24-point home win (71-47) over Saint Louis last Saturday with four players scoring double digits, led by Laura Ziegler with 16 points and nine rebounds. Talya Brugler leads Saint Joseph's in scoring at 15.9 points per game while shooting over 50% from the field. The Hawks have already tied their win total from last season and have their most home wins (8-1) since 2018-19.
LOOK AHEAD
Loyola travels to Rhode Island Sunday (11 a.m. CT) for a nationally-televised contest on CBS Sports Network.
