Loyola’s first season of women’s basketball in the Missouri Valley conference began with a lot of fanfare and high hopes. Women’s basketball legend Sheryl Swoopes was hired as head coach in April, just days before Loyola was announced as a new member of the MVC. The 2013-14 Ramblers had a solid crew of impressive and experienced players, and were coming off a 17-15 season in their final year in the Horizon League (their most wins since 1989) in which they reached the conference tournament final against #20 Green Bay.
Yet almost from the opening tip-off, key injuries started to pile up for the Ramblers. Forward Simone Law, center Courtney Lindfors, and guards Taylor Johnson and Tiana Karopulos were all lost to injuries. After starting the conference season with a 4-2 record, the ailing Ramblers finished out the conference slate with only two wins in their final 12 contests, including a seven-game losing streak. Late in the 2013-14 conference season, Loyola had a brief stretch where only seven players were dressed for the game. Nevertheless, the Ramblers reached the conference tournament seeded #8, and knocked off #9 seed Bradley in their first MVC tournament game.
The Ramblers enter 2014-15 having lost MVC 1st Team forward Troy Hambric to graduation and Cate Soane to transfer. Ayrealle Beavers, who led the MVC in assists in 2013-14, is still at Loyola but no longer on the roster—she graduates in December.
Although Loyola’s 2014-15 team has a lot of promise, don’t expect the team to come roaring out of the gate. Loyola has one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the MVC this year, playing all but two of their non-con games against teams that had an RPI better than 152 last season, including seven teams with RPIs at 107 or better. The season begins at home against Georgia Tech (RPI of 41 last year), and other home non-con games include Michigan State (31) and DePaul (22). Two key players coming off injuries last year– Molly Crosby and Tiana Karopulos– were cleared to play just before the beginning of the season and may not be in top game shape for several weeks. Taylor Manuel, a highly-touted 6’2” sophomore forward transfer from Purdue, won’t be eligible to play until after fall semester finals.
The Ramblers will eventually have one of the most impressive rosters in the MVC, including seven players listed at 6’0” or taller. 6’0” senior forward Simone Law was a Preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference player last season before missing all but six games to injury, and made the Horizon League First Team as a sophomore in 2012-13. 6’2” forward Molly Crosby is the MVC’s returning leader in blocks. Sophomore point guard Taylor Johnson was the Horizon League Newcomer of the Year in 2012-13, and scored in double figures in her five games in 2013-14 before suffering a season-ending knee injury. Freshman Ryaen Johnson, a 6’2” forward from Bolingbrook, is a rebounding machine who averaged 8.5 rebounds coming off the bench in Loyola’s two exhibition games.
Meanwhile, the MVC balance of power should show a lot more parity. Last season’s champion Wichita State is expected to repeat under the leadership of Preseason Player of the Year Alex Harden. Northern Iowa and Drake are also expected to compete in the top three; the two Iowa teams feature half the members of the MVC preseason team (Kyndal Clark and Lizzy Wendell from Drake, and Jen Keitel from UNI). Evansville returns a solid inside-outside combination of sophomore Sara Dickey and senior Mallory Ladd. Last year’s regular season co-champion Indiana State lost their top two scorers– Bilquis Abdul-Qaadir and Anna Munn– to graduation, and will compete with a new head coach. Missouri State lost two starters from a 14-17 team, and Illinois State, Southern Illinois, and Bradley each lost key starters from lower-half finishing teams last year.
Assuming the Ramblers can stay healthy, Loyola promises to finish in the upper half of the league—possibly as high as third. Second-year head coach Swoopes will have (finally) depth, experience, and superior height at nearly every position, and the very challenging schedule should help prepare the team well for a run at the top spots in the MVC. Loyola’s scoring and rebounding should both be much more powerful and reliable this season, but the Ramblers will have to do a better job of taking care of the ball than they’ve shown in two early exhibition games (a combined 39 turnovers).
The first four games of the conference season—Drake and Northern Iowa at home, followed by road games at Evansville and Indiana State—should foreshadow the Ramblers 2014-15 fortunes somewhat clearly. If the Ramblers can split (or better) in the first four games, it could be a very good season. The Ramblers split the regular season last year against both Drake and Indiana State, and establishing themselves with early wins against those teams to start 2014-15 would build confidence toward taking care of business against teams expected to struggle.
Ramblermania prediction:
- Wichita State
- Northern Iowa
- Drake
- Evansville
- Loyola
- Indiana State
- Missouri State
- Southern Illinois
- Illinois State
- Bradley
