Lady Rams Fall In Overtime

MOBILE, Ala—The University of Mobile women’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker to 16th-ranked Loyola University Thursday evening at home.

The Lady Wolfpack, undefeated in Gulf Coast Athletic Conference action, used an opportunistic defense to build a 12-point lead at the break. Both teams shot over 50% from the field, but Loyola racked up 10 steals and forced 17 turnovers from the Lady Rams to build the momentum.

Mobile’s defense did half its job in the opening frame. The Lady Rams knew they would need to shut down the dynamic duo of Trenese and Trenell Smith, and while they held Trenese to 5 points, her sister went off for 14 first-half points.

The second half, saw the Lady Rams step up the defense and get the team back in the game. Through the first 8 minutes of play in the half, Mobile’s defense clamped down and held the Lady Wolfpack to a putrid 17% from the field, as Mobile cut the deficit to 49-44.

From there, Mobile made a run and took a 53-52 lead with 8:32 remaining when Sherri McIntosh grabbed an offensive rebound and got the putback. The Lady Rams continued to push, as McIntosh converted a 3-point play and Anna Maddox hit a pair of freebies to extend Mobile’s lead to 58-52 with 7:50 remaining.

But, over the next 2 minutes, the Lady Wolfpack continued to get to the charity stripe, and hit 7 free throws to tie the game at 61 apiece. From that point on, neither team could muster a lead by more than one score, but it looked like Danielle Goodly might give Mobile the win, when she took the ball inside and sank a layup to put her team up 75-73 with only 16 seconds remaining.

Unfortunately for Mobile, the free throw theme continued and Trenell Smith got to the line and hit a pair to tie it with 10 seconds remaining.

Overtime was not kind to the Lady Rams, as Loyola outscored Mobile 16-6 in the period to walk away with the 91-81 win.

McIntosh led Mobile with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Goodly added 20 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists, while Crystal Hutchinson rounded out the scorers with 14 points.

Trenell Smith did the damage for the visitors by pouring in 34 points. Christine Mainguy added 23 points and 17 boards.

Mobile falls to 9-9 (5-2) and next plays at home Saturday, January 26th at 5:00 pm versus Belhaven.