Women's Hoops Opens Patriot League Play Against Holy Cross on Thursday Evening

Match Information
Opponent	vs Holy Cross Crusaders
Date	Thursday, January 2, 2025
Time	6:30 PM
Location	Baltimore, Md. \| Reitz Arena
Tickets	Purchase Tickets
Getting There	Directions
Online Media	ESPN+ l Live Stats
Follow Us	Twitter \| Instagram
Game Notes	Loyola Women's Basketball Game Notes (PDF)

The Matchup

The Greyhounds begin Patriot League play on Thursday evening as they host the 2023-24 reigning Patriot League Champion Holy Cross Crusaders.
This will be the 22nd meeting between the two programs, with the Crusaders holding a 14-7 edge in the series.

Quick Hits

The Greyhounds and Crusaders split the regular season series last season, with the road team winning both games. The win ended a nine-game losing streak against the Crusaders.
Loyola was picked as the Preseason favorites in the Patriot League after receiving 148 points and 10 first place votes in the poll. This marks just the second time since 2000 that the Greyhounds were picked as Preseason favorites (2004-05, MAAC).
Lex Therien was also named the Preseason Player of the Year entering the 2024-25 season, which is the first Greyhounds player since Katie Sheahin in 2012-13 to be named the Preseason Player of the Year.

Non-Conference Recap

Non-conference play concluded on Monday for the Greyhounds, as they finished non-conference play with their first winning record since the 2005-06 season.
Loyola started the season with a 1-2 record, after two losses to James Madison and St. John's, while beating in-town foe UMBC.
They followed it up with a three-game winning streak, winning each game by double-digits.
After a road loss to Binghamton, the Greyhounds returned to Reitz where they defeated Radford in a overtime thriller, 70-64.
After losses to Mount St. Mary's and No. 3 Notre Dame, the Greyhounds wrapped up non-conference play with a win over Haverford to finish 82-38.

Scouting Holy Cross

Holy Cross comes into the Patriot League opener with a 7-4 record on the season and are coming off of a 61-37 win over Northeastern.
The Crusaders have won their last three games, all by at least 17 points.
Through 11 games, four players are averaging double-figures, led by Simone Foreman who is averaging 15.2 points per game. Kaitly Flanagan (10.6 ppg), Meg Cahalan (10.2 ppg), and Lindsay Berger (10.1 ppg) are all averaging double figures on the season.
Formen also leads the team with 6.9 rebounds per game, while Kaitlyn Flanagan leads the team and Patriot League with 4.7 assists per game.
As a team, they are averaging 62.9 points per game on 42.1 percent shooting.
In the Patriot League Preseason Poll, the reigning champion Crusaders were picked to finish in sixth place.

Heating Up

Amandine Amorich has found her stride on the offensive end of the floor for the Greyhounds, as the sophomore forward has scored in double figures in each of her last four games.
Prior to this stretch, Amorich scored 10 points just twice in her career. During this stretch, she has shot 43.8% (21-48) from the field and 55.5% (10-18) from three-point range.
Amorich has also been a key contributor on defense, as she leads the team in steals (24) and has recorded at least one steal in all but one game, including 8 games with multiple steals.
Freshman wings Gabby Betton and Avery Simmons are both coming off of their best games of the season, as Betton (15 pts.) and Simmons (13 pts.) are coming off of career-highs. Betton went 5-9 from three-point range, while Simmons went 6-9 from the field against Haverford.

Worth Noting

With seven rebounds against St. John's Lex Therien became the fifth player in program history to reach 1,000 career rebounds. She now has over 1,000 career points and rebounds.
Therien came into the season with 47 career double-doubles.
The Greyhounds went 9-8 at home last season.

By The Numbers

So far this season, all of the Greyhounds wins have come when they have led at halftime. Likewise, they have won each game this season when shooting a better percentage from the field and winning the turnover battle.
When scoring at least 60 points this season, the Greyhounds are 5-1. Dating back to the beginning of last season, Loyola is 16-3 when scoring at least 60 points.
Loyola has success playing in Reitz Arena this season, posting a 4-1 record on the season at home through 11 games.
Following a loss this season, Loyola has gone 4-1 on the season.
Loyola has had just three games decided by single-digits thus far, going 2-1 in such games, with no games being decided by three points or less.
Danielle O'Banion is one of two coaches who enter their fourth season at the helm who have seen win increases in each season and a 16-game difference from when they took over, with Vanessa Blair-Lewis at George Mason as the other coach.

Players Mentioned