Friday, November 18, 2011

Explorers’ freshmen look impressive

With high hopes for the 2011-12 season, the women’s basketball team got off to a terrific start in their season opener against the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
The final of score of 63-43 was avenged last year’s 18-point defeat (85-67). Lehigh had beaten La Salle in the past three years, but the Blue and Gold made a decisive statement this past Friday at Tom Gola Arena.
In the early minutes of the contest, Lehigh jumped to a 5-0 lead, but La Salle quickly regained the advantage after a layup from sophomore Michea Bryant to make the score 10-5.
Lehigh would surge right back after an Explorers’ run closed the lead within one at 14-13, but that was the closest the Mountain Hawks would come for the rest of the game.
With the score at 37-24 at the half, the young freshmen propelled La Salle to triumph in this matchup.
Pacing the Explorers at half with 12 points, freshman Jada Payne would lead her squad out of the locker room to a 20-point victory with a game-high 15 points. Classmate Jordan Mosley also keyed in with a big 12 points while sophomore Jess Koci and junior Alexis Scott controlled the glass with eight rebounds.
In a beautiful offensive showing, La Salle also locked down Lehigh, who shot a miserable percentage of .171 in the second half in addition to having 23 turnovers.
“To start off with a win is great,” head coach Jeff Williams told goexplorers.com. “We started three freshmen, so it was just seeing how they’d react and they played pretty well.”
After getting off to good start under Williams, the Explorers traveled to Albany to face the Great Danes.
This game was a battle of runs as both units traded momentum back-and-forth.
Despite trailing 6-0 to begin the game, the Blue and Gold went on a 10-0 run with contributing three-pointers from Mosely and junior Brittany Wilson to control the lead. Albany then retaliated with a run of their own to recapture the lead at 21-20 with less than seven minutes remaining in the first period.
Following the slight deficit, the Explorers once againpowered back with a 12-2 run to go up 32-23, but the Great Danes had the last laugh heading into half as they led 35-34.
In the second half, there would be no lead changes though as Albany stayed on top until the end.
In a valiant effort to come back, the Explorers trailed 75-69 with just three minutes to play after a jumper from Mosley. This rally would ultimately fail as the Great Danes edged La Salle in an 81-76 home win.
The Explorers may have beaten the Great Danes in shooting percentage while outrebounding them 46-39, but this game was decided on the offensive glass as Albany pulled down 18 boards en route to numerous second-chance points.
Leading the Explorers in the loss was transfer Wilson with 17, while the new faces of Payne and Mosley totaled 16. Mosley also managed to grab a team-high nine rebounds.
The women’s basketball team will return to action during homecoming weekend against the national powerhouse Rutgers Scarlett Knights.
waltersj1@lasalle.edu

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