The Loras men’s basketball team kicked off their season on Monday at Edgewood College, losing the opener 74-55.

Some rust seemed to still be on the team with the game being the first of the season, but there were some players that still stood out during the game.

Loras opened last season against Edgewood with a win at home, but this season’s opener was different and it shows the turnover the team has gone through and the players that the team will rely on now this season.

One of those players includes junior center Dan Pawelski, who scored a team high 17 points shooting 6 of 10 on the court and collecting a total of nine rebounds down low. First-year Alex Cline took advantage of the time given to him coming off the bench to score 11 points in 24 minutes of game action.

Junior Tim Kelly, who the team looks to for leadership on the floor, followed Cline on the score sheet with seven points.

One big stat that sticks out from the game is the 38 shooting percentage that the Duhawks pulled off which proves that the team will have to work hard to improve on the 15-11 record that they produced last season.

Conference games do not start for the Duhawks until December so they will have to make improvements throughout the next four games left in November to see what works best for the team on the court.

Loras’ next match up will take them to the Pacific Time zone to Spokane, Washington to play Whitworth University.

The women’s basketball season kicked off on Monday with a tight scoring game, but got edged out by University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 59-53.

The Duhawks had a very strong first half that coach Justin Heinzen liked to see out of his team mentioning how the team was being the aggressor and their defense leading to offense as they led by 10 points going into half time.

“We needed to keep the game at a fast pace and we fouled way too much in the second half,” said Heinzen. “That really slowed the game down and played into their style much more.  Once we were on our heels, we laid off the gas a bit.”

Sophomore center Melissa Herrmann started off the season with her career best scoring effort with 19 points followed by junior Lindsey LaBadie with 14 points and three assists.

The women have a lot to improve on from their last season as they finished with a 13-14 record, 7-9 in the Iowa Conference. This season the team looks different, as seen in the first game with three new starters for the team. With this roster turnover, expectations for the upcoming season are a bit of a mystery for the women.

“There’s a lot of unknown with as young of a group as we have but one of the expectations we have set are a top three seed in the IIAC.  I think that’s an achievable goal and one we will have to keep in the forefront of our minds as the season progresses,” said Heinzen. “Our schedule is outstanding. Along with our effort, I think it is crucial we learn from every game and situation to prepare us for the conference grind.”

One thing that is not seen much on basketball teams that the Loras women can use to their advantage is that there are no seniors on the team, which also places the leadership on some of the younger players to jump into certain roles. According to Heinzen his captains will be sophomores Brit Kent and Brittney Cato and returning captain junior Alex Hudson.

All three players will certainly be the ones to keep the less experienced players on the team in check, starting with this weekend when the team takes on the University of Chicago to kick off the Lakeland Tournament.

“Chicago will be a great game for us. Their lineup is one very similar to the Coe’s and Simpson’s of the conference.  Their squad is always one of the top defenses in the nation and has been and NCAA qualifier as long as I can remember,” said Heinzen. “Our focus once again will be to play in the full court and to avoid playing against their set defense each possession.”

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