OPENING TIP
*This weekend's games are set for a 2 p.m. tip in Baltimore on Saturday and a 4 p.m. tip in Easton on Sunday. This weekend's games are the first for the Leopards outside of the central mini-conference with Loyola being in the south mini-conference. The Greyhounds will return to the court for the first time since Jan. 3, after both previously scheduled games last weekend were postponed.  

*The Leopards dropped both games last weekend to Bucknell, bringing their record to 0-4 for the first time since the 2015-2016 season. Despite the loss, on Saturday, senior Natalie Kucowski recorded her 46th career double-double with a season-high 17 points and 10 rebounds. On Sunday, junior Naomi Ganpo stole the show, putting up a career-high 16 points and seven rebounds.

*This weekend's meetings will be the 20th and 21st all-time series meetings. Lafayette holds a 10-9 series lead over the Greyhounds and last season, earned the regular-season sweep.

*Kucowski still leads the nation in rebounds, averaging 13.8 per game and leads the nation in defensive rebounds per game, averaging 11.8. After her stellar performance on Sunday, Ganpo now finds herself leading the Patriot League in field goal percentage (.727) and tied for second in the league in offensive rebounds with 10, averaging 2.5 per game.

LAST SEASONS MEETINGS AND ALL-TIME SERIES
The Leopards swept both meetings last season, winning 55-52 in overtime on Jan. 11 and 76-65 on Feb. 22.  Lafayette currently leads the all-time series 10-9 heading into Saturday afternoon's game.
 
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS
Entering his 16th season at the head of the Loyola Women's Basketball program is head coach Joe Logan. The Greyhounds return a pair of starters from last season's squad with both senior forward Delaney Connolly and junior guard Laryn Edwards expected to both once again play key roles for the Greyhounds. The program graduated the 2020 Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year in Stephanie Karcz, along with Alexis Gray, Ashley Hunter, Hannah Niles and Molly Taylor. They added four freshmen, Charia Roberts, Kayla Sieper, Bella Steidle and Caramina Tañedo, and a transfer from St. Joseph's, Devyne Newman to the 2021 squad.
 
Loyola opened its season Jan. 2-3 dropping two games to Bucknell after it's originally schedule games against American were postponed and have not been in a game situation since as last weekend's scheduled games against Navy were postponed to later this month. Junior guard Devyne Newman and junior guard Taleah Dixon totaled 16 and 14 points, respectively for the Greyhounds on Jan. 2 while sophomore forward Emily McAtee led the Greyhounds with 14 points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks on Jan. 3.
 
Dixon currently leads the Greyhounds in points, with 22 and averaging 11.0 per game and McAteer leads the team's leading rebounder with 16 and averaging 5.5 per game.
 
WEEKEND TWO WRAP-UP
Lafayette dropped both its games this past weekend to Bucknell, 80-51 and 79-45. On Saturday, it was senior Natalie Kucowski who led the way for the Leopards with 17 points and 10 rebounds, marking her 46th career double-double. Senior Drew Freeland was right behind her with eight points and freshman Makayla Andrews totaled seven points. Sunday, it was junior Naomi Ganpo who led the team with a career-high 16 points and a career-high seven rebounds. Sophomore Jess Booth added nine points and Kucowski totaled eight points, 11 rebounds and three assists.
 
STILL AT THE TOP
Senior forward Natalie Kucowski ended her junior season second in the nation in rebounds per game and defensive rebounds per game and two games into the 2021 season, she finds herself right back on top again. She currently leads the nation in rebounds, averaging 17 per game and leads the nation in defensive rebounds per game.
 
GANPO'S IMPACT
In the Leopards four games so far this season, junior Naomi Ganpo is already showing a huge improvement from last season. One of the first Leopards off the bench for head coach Kia Damon-Olson this season, Ganpo has accumulated 33 points and 22 rebounds, only 11 behind (in both categories) from what she finished with last season. The Ontario, Canada, native is averaging 8.3 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game so far this season.
 
HITTING SOME MILESTONES
Over the weekend, senior Drew Freeland recorded her 800th career point and her 114th career three-pointer. She now sits at 8th all-time in the Lafayette record book for career three-pointers made and is 17 away from moving into the top-5.
 
Also hitting milestones this past weekend was junior Nicole Johnson, who recorded her 300th career point and junior Naomi Ganpo who passed 100 career points.
 
Senior Natalie Kucowski now finds herself with 1,240 career points, putting herself at ninth all-time in Lafayette's record book and at 205 career blocks, putting her at third all-time. Kucowski has also started to slowly inch closer to the Patriot League's all-time rebounding record as she now finds herself 110 away from taking over the league's top spot.