There's something special about this group of seniors.  About this whole team... close to 1500 people witnessed Loyola defeat Maryland for the second time in two years.  I arrived just after halftime, so I don't know what happened really in the first half.  I'll do the best I can to explain the second half here.

GOOD:
POISE UNDER PRESSURE:  Woo-boy.  This team has leadership, and experience, and it showed.  Against a young MD team, they played their hearts out and looked great doing so, outscoring the Terps 23 to 16 in the second half.  Much of the credit should go to the defense, which was very impressive in the latter portions of the game, giving up no easy baskets.

SHANNON COHEN:  Defensively, she was on speed tonight.  She had 7 steals in the game, at least 3 in the second half coming when she applied tough man to man full court pressure.  Although someone would say that maybe she made too many gambles, they almost all payed off.

COREY HEWITT & COHEN:  Corey Hewitt and Cohen played together for most of the second half, with Hewitt moved to shooting guard.  For the game, Hewitt hit on 3 of 6 three pointers and as I walked in canned one from 25 feet out.  Not too shabby - Hewitt and Cohen in the game gave Coach Coyle two ballhandlers and decision makers - a great move when it's all said and done.

KIRSCH & FRONTCOURT "D":  Although the frontcourt was not on fire tonight, defensively, they were fantastic.  Grabbing rebounds and playing tough defense was exactly what the Hounds needed from them, and that's what they were given.  Mosley and Slater played very well at the SF position, contributing key deflections on defense and baskets on offense.

BAD:
SHOOTING %:  I don't know what happened to the Hounds FG shooting, but it appears to have dropped off significantly.  They shot just 31% for the game, although it was partly because of MDs defense, some shots in the second half seemed a little rushed or unadvised.  However, the key baskets and decisions were made.

FRONTCOURT "O":  Loyola's preseason outlook had them as one of the best frontcourts in the MAAC, with Rath, Bongard, and Kirsch all poised to make Loyola a power down low.  However, they didn't come through offensively for the Hounds in this game.  It's good to see, though, that the Hounds are not as one-dimensional as people sometimes think.

OVERALL:
This was not the best Loyola can play, and they still pulled off a big win against an ACC opponent.  Kinda makes you think anything is possible with this team.  An "A-", only because of the problems they experienced shooting.

STATS: