Heading into Wednesday night's matchup with Loyola University of New Orleans at H.O. West Field House, the LC Lady Wildcats were looking to erase the memory of two specific games. 

The first was Monday's night's 100-63 victory over Centenary, a game LC head coach Jason Tinsley called "ugly" despite the lopsided result. The other was last season's 79-63 loss to Loyola, one of only four losses the Lady Cats would suffer during the regular season. 

Erase job complete. The Wildcats played perhaps their most complete game of the young season, outscoring Loyola 48-30 in the second half on their way to an 89-63 victory and a quick 3-0 start to the young 2012-13 season. 

"That's what a three-hour, 40-minute practice will do for you," Tinsley quipped following the win. "We really worked hard Tuesday and this morning, and I thought we did a better job. This was a good win against a very good team."

In virtually every phase of the game, the Lady Cats showed improvement over their results two nights before, and their defense was again solid as the Cats forced the Wolfpack into 33 turnovers. 

After leading 41-33 at the half, LC had one of its best shooting halves of the young campaign - hitting 17-of-42 shots (40.5).

Senior Nathosa Gottlieb would have the hot hand for the Lady Wildcats. Her game-high 28 points came on 10-of-20 from the floor along with 10 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 blocks. 

Gottlieb would be the only LC player to finish in double figures although the team showed much better balance with all 13 players who saw action all scoring at least one basket. Karolyn Thornton scored 9 points 5 rebounds, Kaci Willis scored 9 as well and grabbed 7 rebounds, and Lala Chenier scored 7. 

Loyola was led by Jasmine Brewer with 23 points, while Megen Berner had 11. No other Wolfpack players scored in double figures. 

For Tinsley, the win not only showed an improvement over his team's previous game, but also showed a growth in physical and mental toughness for the Wildcats from the year before. 

"I told the ladies before the game, if they're good enough to beat us, they good enough to beat us, but they had better not be tougher than we are this year because you will come back from the holiday break, and we will get it straightened out," he said. 

As it is, LC will face its longest regular season road trip when they do come back from Thanksgiving. On Thursday, Nov. 29, the Lady Wildcats play in Alpine, Texas against Sul Ross State. Two days later, LC will be in Brownwood, Texas to face Howard Payne as the two games will mark the beginning of conference play in the ASC. 

"It's here," Tinsley said. "I feel good going into conference play because we got a good win tonight against a good team."