NEW ORLEANS, La.—The mistakes made by 11
th-seeded Southeastern in its NAIA National Tournament First Round contest at Loyola (La.) may not have been large in quantity, but were quite costly in the end.
The sixth-seeded Wolf Pack scored 28 points off 25 offensive rebounds and scored 31 points off of 19 SEU turnovers to come away with an 84-78 win to advance to the Round of 32 tomorrow against Georgetown (Ky.).
Despite shooting 14% worse and making one less shot, Loyola (25-4) made up for it by sinking 19 more free throws and had nearly twice as many attempts from the line as Southeastern.
"We played a lot of zone and got a little confused on our rotations," said coach
Brian Neal. "I think that goes to Loyola's credit. They sped us up a bit too much. To their credit, they pounced on our mistakes and crashed the boards and did the little things."
The Fire took a seven-point lead on a
Mya Herman jumper with 7:21 left in the third quarter but in a matter of 30 seconds the Wolf Pack tied the game going 5-of-5 at the free throw line and scoring its lone field goal off of a turnover. Loyola then closed the quarter on a 6-1 run to take a 65-63 lead into the fourth quarter.
Leading scorer
Bekki Kalaydjiev scored with 5:11 left in the contest to put the Fire up 72-71, but it was the final time the guests led. Loyola scored the next six points of the game, getting a 3-pointer on the next possession, then a layup and a foul off of a turnover to go up 77-72 with 4:00 left. Kalaydjiev scored on the next possession, but the Fire went empty on their next three possessions with a turnover and two misses and allowed the Wolf Pack to stretch the advantage to seven with 1:35 left.
Kalaydjiev led all scorers in her final game with the Fire with 26, and led the team in assists with eight, and steals with two.
"Bekki is one of the finest players and people I've been around in 31 years of coaching," said Neal. "I'm so proud of the whole group but Bekki's had such a tremendous season and it kind of breaks my heart to see her go, but I could say that about all four of our seniors."
Rebecca Cook matched her season high with 14 points in just 19 minutes and collected seven rebounds with three assists.
Kiki Britzmann also added 14 points with three rebounds and two assists.
Herman finished the game with 12 points, going 5-of-10 from the field.
"I'm most proud of our chemistry and the cohesiveness of this group," said Neal. "We have wonderful people that meshed and I had very little to do with this; they bought into everything we asked and stuck through some tough times."
