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BALTIMORE – Taylor O'Brien scored a game-high 18 points, and Autumn Ceppi added 10 points and six rebounds to help Bucknell pull away from Loyola University Maryland in the second half to earn a 59-44 victory at Reitz Arena on Sunday.

The Bison (2-0) outscored the Greyhounds (0-2) by a 39-23 margin in the final 20 minutes after trailing 21-20 at the intermission. Emily McAteer led the home side with 14 points and eight boards, while Delaney Connolly grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

A stellar defensive effort had Loyola in front of the defending Patriot League regular season champions for a majority of the first half. The Greyhounds held Bucknell to 23.8 percent shooting and forced eight turnovers from the visitors. 

Bucknell's shooting improved to 44.7 percent (17-38) after the break. The Bison took a 40-36 advantage into the fourth quarter, and outscored the Greyhounds 19-8 over the final 10 minutes to pull away late.

McAteer added a pair of blocks for Loyola, giving her five rejections in the season's first two contests. Her 14 points were four shy of her career-high of 18, which was established in last year's Patriot League opener against Holy Cross.

Taleah Dixon chipped in eight points for the Greyhounds after hitting all eight of her free throw attempts. Both teams were strong from the charity stripe overall, with Loyola hitting 86.4 percent (19-22) of its attempts and Bucknell shooting 86.7 percent (13-15) from the line.

The Bison ended the contests with advantage in both rebounding (46-34) and points in the paint (38-16), and the Greyhounds were held to a 1 for 15 output from 3-point range.

Loyola is scheduled to return to action next weekend with a pair of matchups against Navy.