2019–20 Loyola Chicago Women’s Basketball Preview
It’s been said that the best cooking is done from scratch, and if you ask anyone around Loyola University Chicago, they’ll tell you basketball programs work the same way.
When Kate Achter took over as head coach of the Ramblers women’s basketball program in 2016, she inherited a practically empty cupboard. Nearly the entire roster from the previous season had graduated or transferred, and she was left with three reserves who had combined for 78 total points the year before.
Achter’s challenge was heightened by the fact that she was hired in July, mere weeks before the start of school. Despite the lack of time to get acquainted with her team, Achter is thankful for the experience and believes it has helped her as she moves forward in her coaching career.
“It certainly taught me a lot as a very young head coach about how I want to do things and how I’d like to recruit, so it was all a very good learning experience,” said the now-33-year-old head coach.
Fast forward three years and Achter has her squad poised to make a run at its first postseason appearance in school history. In contrast to the meager 78 points Achter returned in year one, this year she returns all but 72 points from last season’s team. The Ramblers bring back 10 of 11 players from the 2018–19 roster. The only departure, Citiana Negatu, was also the lone holdover from the previous coaching staff.
As Achter started bringing in her own players, she shared her vision to “turn the ship,” a slogan that appealed to recruits early on.
“The five of us are gonna be able to be part of … making the change here,” said junior wing Abby O’Connor, one of five members of Achter’s first recruiting class. O’Connor decided to come to Loyola after “seeing [Achter’s] vision” and felt that “being a part of that sounded exciting.”
Entering her fourth season, Achter feels a new sense of cohesiveness within the program. After returning from a team retreat in September, Achter was grateful for “having the experience with kids who know what your expectations are.” She added, “Not only are those expectations important to you, but they’re also important to those players. And that has just made things so much easier for us as far as a teaching standpoint is concerned, as far as [establishing] a culture and enforcing that culture is concerned. I’ve got 15 kids that believe in Loyola women’s basketball and are really trying to achieve the same thing.”
One of the things the Ramblers are trying to achieve is a top-half Missouri Valley Conference finish, and that could very well be within reach this season. In addition to returning all but one player, Loyola also adds five freshmen to the 2019–20 roster. Achter believes some of them could have an immediate impact, and that guards Sam Galanopoulos and Anna Brown may even challenge for starting spots.
“Sam Galanopoulos has really raised the level in practice for us,” Achter said. She added, “Anna Brown just does all the little things … She may not end up being a starter for us, but she makes all of our starters better, and that’s really gonna help us.”
Achter also called freshman guard Jala Johnson a “very skilled two-guard” who she thinks will contribute right away.
The freshman class is rounded out by forwards Jordan Moser and Julia Hoefling, who Achter believes will solidify her already-strong post group.
Junior guard Ellie Rice likes what she has seen from the newcomers so far. “I think our freshman class as a whole is pretty strong,” she said. “In practice, we have challenged each other to get better … and I think the freshmen have really stepped up as a whole.”
The incoming freshmen will hop on board a train that is picking up steam. After winning their first game in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament since 2015 with a 90–80 first-round victory over Evansville last year, the Ramblers gave No. 2 seed Missouri State sweaty palms for 40 minutes in the quarterfinals before bowing out, 59–50. Missouri State went on to win the tournament title and make a run to the NCAA Sweet 16. The impressive showing at Hoops in the Heartland came without hobbled sharpshooter Janae Gonzales, who missed the final seven games of her freshman season with a foot injury.
“[How last year ended] definitely gives us a little bit of momentum,” said Rice. “That run in the tournament made us see that we are capable of being really talented, and I think that it really just made us hungry.”
“I think what gave our kids the most confidence is when we played Missouri State twice earlier in the year, we got our doors blown off, and that wasn’t the case [in the conference tournament],” Achter said. “To me, that really symbolized how much we’d grown … I think that [our players] got a good taste of what they can be like as a group this year.”
The trio of O’Connor, Rice and Gonzales led the team in scoring a season ago, each averaging over 11 points per game. In the backcourt, Achter also returns seniors Jazmine Covington and Tiara Wallace, juniors Alexis Meyer and Kailyn Strawbridge and sophomore Maya Dunson.
Wallace is coming off of a spectacular junior campaign. She ranked 2nd in the Valley in assist rate, assisting on 26.6% of her teammates’ baskets when she was on the floor. She also led the Ramblers in steals, and at 5-foot-6 was the team’s second-leading rebounder with 5.4 per game.
The two key returning players in the frontcourt are sophomore Allison Day and junior Kat Nolan. A foot injury cost Nolan the entire MVC regular season last year after starting all 11 non-conference games. Nolan’s injury opened up minutes for Day, who will come into her second season with more experience as a result. Achter thinks Day, the team’s third-leading rebounder and second-leading shot blocker, could be in position for a big sophomore season.
“In my opinion, [Day] had the best summer of all of our returners,” Achter said. “She’s stronger. From a basketball level, I thought her improvement was very, very evident.”
With so many players back from a year ago, players feel a new level of chemistry heading into this season. “I think having the ten of us back from last year, we all were able to go through the growing pains of last year and came out more together from it,” O’Connor said. “I think right now, we’re in a really good place as a team — we’re really close.”
As the Ramblers look for their first winning season since making the move to the Valley in 2013, the ship is turning fast. Achter has already flipped the trajectory of the program on an impressive timeline, and her team is ready to take another leap in 2019–20.
Loyola opens the season on Nov. 5 at Detroit Mercy, followed by its home opener on Nov. 8 against Vermont.
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