First, Patty Stoffey grabbed another piece of history. Then her Loyola teammates, so sluggish in the first half, loosened up and lifted the Greyhounds to a new plateau.
Loyola became the first state school to beat Maryland during the 20-year reign of Chris Weller last night. The Greyhounds, led again by the remarkable Stoffey, caught the Terrapins with a 14-6 run to start the second half, then rolled past a young and rattled Maryland team down the stretch to take a 73-68 victory before 1,015 at Reitz Arena.
Stoffey scored a game-high 28 points, chipped in four rebounds, three assists and three steals, and kept the Greyhounds in the game during an uneven first half. In the second half, she made numerous big shots and free throws to fuel Loyola's resurgence.
With 3:25 left in the game, Stoffey's fadeaway, eight-foot jumper gave the Greyhounds a 63-56 lead. It also gave the top scorer in school history another slice of recognition, as Stoffey passed former Maryland standout Vicky Bullett to become the top Division I scorer in state women's basketball history.
"That's the hot topic around here. It [the record] is great, but this win is better," said Stoffey, who has led Loyola to a 6-1 start, its best in 16 years. "We talked about this in September. One of our goals was to beat Maryland.
"Our first half was horrible. I think they were nervous and excited, and everybody was trying to do something too quickly. Once we calmed down and played the way I knew we could play, we were fine."
Loyola, which had lost in four previous tries against the Terps, including a 31-point defeat in their last meeting two years ago, caught a Maryland team ripe for the taking.
The Terps (5-3), who start two freshmen and a sophomore and have only two seniors, showed their youth.
After hammering Loyola's man-to-man defense inside throughout the first half with senior forward Kesha Camper (24 points, 13 rebounds) and outside with 6-foot freshman Stephanie Cross (24 points), the Terps failed to adjust to the Greyhounds' defensive changes after the break.
Loyola went primarily to a 1-1-3 zone alignment that limited Camper to six second-half attempts and made Cross work harder for her shots on the wing. As a result, Maryland shot 40.5 percent in the second half. The Terps were poor from the foul line, too, converting six of 15 attempts, including one of seven after the break.
But the Greyhounds won mainly because they ran their offense smoothly for the final 20 minutes, shooting 68 percent, and Stoffey got some assistance at key points.
Senior forward Camille Joyner scored 10 of her 16 points in the second half, and her two jumpers helped Loyola cut Maryland's 35-27 halftime lead to 41-39 after five minutes. Senior point guard Colleen Colsher waited nearly 27 minutes to make her first basket, a three-pointer that gave the Greyhounds a 44-41 lead with 13:33 left.
And after the lead changed hands three times, a three-point play by Denise Stuewe gave Loyola a 55-54 lead with 6:30 left. The Greyhounds never trailed after that.
Taking on bigger players in the low post, Stoffey beat double-teams with power moves all night, and went to the foul line more times (16) than the entire Maryland team. She hit 10 free throws and went 9-for-14 from the field.
"Patty has gotten better at letting the game come to her. She's not getting rattled and she's not getting rushed," Loyola coach Pat Coyle said. "I can't imagine any other win here being bigger in terms of the regular season."