BALTIMORE – Three of Loyola University Maryland's seniors closed their careers Saturday with 13 or more points, and the Greyhounds got as pulled as close as two points in the last three minutes, but the U.S. Military Academy left Reitz Arena with a 72-65 victory in the Patriot League Championships First Round.
 
Hannah Niles scored 16 points, a season-best and one off her career-high, Alexis Gray added 13 and Stephanie Karcz finished one steal shy of her fifth career triple-double.
 
Karcz tallied 14 points, 15 rebounds and nine steals as she set a Patriot League Championships record with her steals total.
 
In addition to setting a record, Karcz's nine steals moved her into ninth-place in career steals at the NCAA Division I level. She finished her career with 461, pushing past Dawn Staley (454, Temple, 1989-92) and Stacy Coffey (458, Oklahoma State, 1993-96) on Saturday.
 
She finished the year with 150 steals, tying her for 14^th in NCAA single-season history, while her 5.17 steals per game lead the nation this year and is an average which ranks 11^th-best in NCAA history. Her 3.87 steals per game average over her career is 17^th in NCAA history.
 
Loyola (8-22 overall) faced a deficit of as many as 13 points twice in the third quarter, the second time coming when Sarah Bohn converted a pair of Army free throws with 4:49 left in the frame.
 
The Greyhounds, however, scored the next 11 points, and Gray assisted on a Delaney Connolly layup with 1:57 left, making it a 46-44 Black Knights lead. Army scored the last four points of the quarter and led 50-44 when Natalie Stralkus scored two of her team-high 16 points with a second to go in the frame.
 
Army West Point (9-21) stretched its lead to seven, 59-52, with 5:25 remaining on a Stralkus layup, but a Niles three and a Bri Rozzi jumper at 2:37 made it a two-point game.
 
Hope Brown took a right-hand drive down the middle of the lane and scored with 2:19 on the clock, and the Black Knights were back up by four, but two Karcz free throws at 2:05 drew the Greyhounds back within a pair.
 
Brown again drove and scored at 1:55, and Bohn made a pair of free throws 14 ticks later to give Army a seven-point cushion. With 39 seconds left, Kate Murray converted two at the charity stripe, and it was a nine-point lead.
 
Rozzi and Molly Taylor made threes in the final 20 seconds, but Loyola could not get closer than five in the waning seconds.
 
In addition to the combined 43 points from Karcz, Niles and Gray, Rozzi scored nine and Connolly had six. Emily McAteer added four, and Taylor scored three to round out the Greyhounds' scoring.
 
Stralkus led Army with 16 points, while Bohn and Morgann Yancey each had 12 and Brown added 11.