Three days after routing George Washington for its seventh win in a row, Maryland women’s basketball will be looking for its eighth straight victory Monday against Loyola.
Blair Watson finished one off her career high with 19 points in the Terps 80-54 win over GW on Friday. The Terps were also solid on the defensive end, keeping up the intensity for all 40 minutes while forcing 20 turnovers.
Loyola is just 2-7 so far, and lost to Mount St Mary’s, a team Maryland beat by 40 when it only played well for one quarter.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET, and the game will be broadcast on BTN.
Loyola Greyhounds (2-7)
Head coach Joe Logan is 160-216 in 13 seasons at Loyola. He’s the program’s all-time winningest coach, and graduated from the school in 1996.
Players to watch
Stephanie Karcz, sophomore, guard, 5’11, No. 10. Karcz leads Loyola in scoring and rebounding with 16.7 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. She does most of her work inside, as only three of her 115 field goal attempts have been from behind the arc. She was named to the All-Patriot freshman team last year after averaging 9.9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
Izzy Therien, freshman, forward, 6’1, No. 13. Therien has had a good start to her college career, averaging 13.8 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. She’s the daughter of Chris Therien, who played defenseman in the NHL for 12 years.
Alexis Gray, sophomore, guard, 5’6, No. 20. Gray averages 10.3 points per game, but is an incredibly inefficient shooter, hitting just 32 percent of her shots from the field.
Strength
Not turning the ball over. Loyola commits just 12 giveaways a game, which could help it stay competitive. Maryland can get sloppy on offense at time, so the Greyhounds can take advantage if the Terps start to play too fast.
Weakness
Rebounding. Loyola averages just 32.7 rebounds per game, which is easily in the bottom half in all team in the NCAA. George Washington had similar issues, and Maryland easily won the battle on the glass, 45-28.
Prediction
Maryland wins, 93-54