Evans Helps Blue Devils With Win Over The Breakers

The Loyola Breakers opened up their 2017-2018 season on the road Tuesday night against the Corvallis Lady Blue Devils and the Breakers would hold their own through quarters before falling 66-53.

The Breakers came into the night under the guidance of their first year head coach Travis Walker who took over the reigns in May and began preparing for the Tuesday night’s opener. Corvallis came out and used their size to control the game in the opening quarter to give the Lady Blue Devils a three point lead at the end of one. Leading the charge for Corvallis was their 6’3″ post player Isabel Evans who scored six points and ripped down five rebounds in the first quarter, finishing with 28 points on the night.

Coach Walker made adjustments at the quarter break and the Breakers came out with a new game plan of playing the ball inside out to combat Evan’s size. The move forced coach Knapp of Corvallis to sub out Evans and the Loyola took advantage. Tessa Burke and Sydney Koppang took over the game driving the ball into the paint and creating opportunities at the free throw line. Loyola played hard nosed basketball to finish out the half and enjoyed a 32-26 lead at the break.

Corvallis would get the ball to start the third quarter only Koppang stole the ball on the inbound pass to start the game and scored, and went to the free throw line to finish the three point play. In the following inbound pass Koppang would be their again putting pressure on Ashlynn Nixon and came with another steal. Loyola controlled the third quarter with the same type of play as the second until Evans checked back into the game with just under two minutes left in the third, and the Lady Blue Devils mounted a comeback, tying up the game with 43 seconds left in the third.

With a combination of Evans height and increased pressure on the ball handler Corvallis never looked back from their lead. The added pressure forced the Breakers to turn the ball over and Corvallis capitalized on their mistakes on the fast break, sending runners to the line for free shots. As she did in the first quarter, Evans controlled the boards on both ends of the court to secure the win for the Lady Blue Devils.

Both the Rams and Breakers will head to Shelby this weekend for the Coyote Classic with games beginning on Friday morning and playing through Saturday afternoon. You can catch the live audio stream of the Loyola games on the Missoula Prep Sports Network.