Matchup History
- The Greyhounds will travel to face off against cross-town foe, UMBC on Wednesday evening in a non-conference matchup.
- This will be the 43rd matchup between the two programs, with the Greyhounds leading the series 26-16, including winning the last three games. The Greyhounds won the matchup last season, 61-47.
Quick Hits
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Danielle O'Banion is in her third season as the Greyhounds' head coach and returns 11 players from last year's team, including Preseason All-Patriot League nominee
Lex Therien.
- The Greyhounds reached the Patriot League Quarterfinals in 2022-23.
- Therien was named to Second Team All-Patriot League last season, where she averaged a career-high 15.4 points and 11.1 rebounds per game on 49.1 percent shooting.
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Lex Therien was named to the Patriot League Preseason All-League team for the second straight season.
Welcome to the Greyhounds
- The Greyhounds welcome five newcomers to the team in 2023-24.
- Center
Aminata Hernandez joins the team from the Canary Islands, Spain. She becomes the fourth player on the Greyhounds from Spain.
- Guard
Kimmie Hicks joins the team from Annapolis, Maryland. Hicks was named to the IAAM All-Conference during her senior season.
- Guard
Kailey Kalet joins the team from Union Springs, NY. She was named the NYSPHSAA Section IV Player of the Year during her senior season.
- Wing
Amandine Amorich joins the team out of Montpellier, France, and is the fifth international player on the Greyhounds roster.
- Lastly, Center
Lily Bottomley joins the team from Canal Fulton, Ohio. She was named the OHSBCA Division 2 State Player of the Year during her senior season.
Scouting UMBC
- The Retrievers come into the matchup with an 1-2 record on the season.
- Their lone win came against Division III opponent, Gettysburg, in which they won in 4OT, 90-83. They lost their season opener to Towson, and lost to Patriot League foe, Colgate, on Saturday.
- Anna Blount leads the team in scoring on the season, averaging 17 points per game. Jordon Lewis is averaging 14 points per game, while Carmen Yanez is averaging 10 points.
- Blount leads the team on the boards, averaging 8.7 rebounds.
- Yanez leads the Retrievers with 3.7 assists per game.
- As a team, they are averaging 71 points per game, but scored only 51 points in their loss against Colgate.
- UMBC was picked to finish in sixth place in the America East Preseason Poll.
- The Retrievers ended the 2022-23 season with an 14-15 record, and reached the America East Semifinal, where they lost to eventual champion, Vermont.
The International Connection
- Coming into the 2023-24 season, five players are from outside of the United States, with four of them coming to Loyola from Spain.
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Cristina Garcia, Laura Salmeron,
Marta Espinal, and Ami Hernandez all are from Spain, with Garcia, Salmeron, and Espinal coming from Barcelona, and Hernandez coming from the Canary Islands.
- The other international is
Amandine Amorich, who is from Montpellier, France, but played her high school basketball in Quebec.
Worth Noting
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Lex Therien ranked 10th in the country in rebounds per game as she averaged 11.1 rebounds. She also ranked fourth in the League in scoring and was eighth in steals per game. She also ranked seventh in minutes per game.
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Koi Sims ranked 26th in the country in offensive rebounds with 3.6 per game before her season ending-injury. She was also fifth in the conference in rebounds and second in offensive rebounds per game.
A Look Back
- Loyola finished the 2022-23 season with a 10-21 (4-14) record, which saw a five-win improvement from O'Banion's first season at the helm.
- They also won the most non-conference games in 12 seasons with six non-conference wins on the season.
- They also showed improvement on the road, winning their most road games in a season since the 2015-16 season.
- The Greyhounds also won their first conference tournament game since the 2018-19 season.
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Lex Therien set the Loyola record for most individual rebounds in a season (344), the highest rebounding average in a season (11.1), and most defensive rebounds in a season (251).
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Koi Sims set the new program record in offensive rebounds per game with 3.6 per game.
