BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland junior Stephanie Karcz set a school single-game and Patriot League Championships rebounding record with 22 on Saturday afternoon as the Greyhounds defeated the U.S. Naval Academy, 58-45, to advance to the Patriot League Quarterfinals.
 
Loyola (7-23 overall) will travel to Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on Monday, March 11, to face top-seeded Bucknell University in a 6 o'clock quarterfinal on Monday night.
 
Karcz's 22 rebounds are tied for ninth-most by a NCAA Division I women's basketball player this season. She topped the school record of 21 she set in 2018 against American University.
 
The previous Patriot League Championships record stood for less than an hour. In the day's other first-round game, the U.S. Military Academy's Madison Hovren pulled down 21 boards to break Bucknell University's Desire Almind mark of 20 from a 2004 game.
 
Karcz, however, topped Hovren's performance and finished one off the Patriot League record for rebounds in any game of 23 set in 2015 by Lehigh University's Lexi Martins in a game against NJIT.
 
In addition to the rebound records, Karcz tied the Loyola single-season record for steals during the game. She had two against the Midshipmen to tie Katie Sheahin's 2010-11 total of 118, a mark that is fourth-most in Patriot League single-season history.
 
Loyola led Saturday's game for all but the first two-plus minutes. Navy (10-19) scored on its first possession at 9:21, and Delaney Connolly matched that with a putback with 8:45 to play in the first quarter. Bri Betz-White was the next to score 9-0 seconds later with two free throws that pushed Loyola in front for what would be the remainder of the game.
 
The Greyhounds built an eight-point lead in the first quarter, but Navy scored the last five points of the frame to get within three, 14-11, at the quarter break.
 
Sophie Gatzounas made it a one-point game with a jumper 30 ticks into the second, but Loyola scored the next 10 points to lead 24-13 on a transition layup by Hannah Niles off a Betz-White feed.
 
Navy pulled back to within six with just over three minutes to play in the first half, but Courtney Vannoy's 18-foot jumper with 1:44 to go in the quarter were the last points before halftime, giving Loyola a 28-18 lead going into the locker rooms.
 
The Greyhounds lead extended to 13 with 2:50 to go in the third on a pair of Connolly free throws, but Navy trimmed it to seven, 42-35, on a Jennifer Coleman fast-break layup with 12 seconds on the clock.
 
Kolbi Green got Navy within five just 28 seconds into the fourth quarter, and Coleman made one of two at the free-throw line less than a minute later to pull the Midshipmen within four, 42-38.
 
Eleven seconds later, however, Taleah Dixon swished a 3-pointer from the top-left of the perimeter – Loyola's only three of the game – to spark a 13-0 Greyhounds run. A Karcz layup with 3:01 to play in the game capped the run and made it 55-38 Greyhounds.
 
Connolly led all players with 16 points, and she added eight rebounds as Loyola had a 46-26 advantage on the boards. Dixon scored 14 points, going 7 of 8 at the free-throw line, and she also had three steals. Niles added eight points, and Betz-White had six for Loyola.
 
No Navy players scored in double-figures Saturday; Bianca Roach and Gatzounas led the way with nine points each.
 
Karcz is the only player in Loyola women's basketball history to pull down 20 or more rebounds in a game, a feat she has now accomplished three times. In addition to her 21 against American last year, she had 20 in a game earlier this year versus Boston University. Her double-double today was her fifth of the season.