Women’s hoops have tough going against D’s of the A-10

By Justin Walters
Collegian Editor

After inching closer to the upper half of the Atlantic 10 standings with a 6-4 conference record, the women’s basketball team had an unfortunate relapse with back-to-back losses to Dayton and Duquesne.
The first to setback the Explorers at Tom Gola were the Flyers during the annual Breast Cancer Awareness contest.
Despite an 11-point halftime lead, the Blue and Gold were unable to hold off Flyers who were currently 9-2 in A-10 play. Led by the Preseason A-10 Player of the Year, Justine Ratterman, and Andrea Hoover, the Flyers eventually trimmed the small deficit and took over the game for good.
It was a go-ahead layup by Ratterman which fueled the Flyers to take off to a 12-4 run bringing them within three at 39-36. La Salle kept it close in the closing minutes by staying composed, but the visiting team used an 8-0 run to exclude the evening for the final of 58-49.
Despite the home loss, junior Brittany Wilson chipped in 15 points, five steals and four rebounds while classmate Alexis Scott recorded 10 in the loss.
In their next matchup, Duquesne would drown the Explorers for their worst loss of the season. The 82-52 routing was ignited by a 24-9 run in the first half which ultimately put the game out of reach. The Dukes scorched the Blue and Gold in the box score in every category while freshman Jordan Mosley was the lone Explorer in double-figures with 10 points.
In his second season at the helm of the La Salle women’s basketball program, Coach Jeff Williams has guided his squad back to the A-10 tournament. Now with one remaining game left against the Temple Owls, the Explorers will be playing for seeding in the bracket.
Saturday’s matchup against their cross-town foes will be far from a walk in the park as Temple sits at the top of the conference with an 11-1 record. Temple won last year’s matchup at home, but this year the Explorers host the city-rival on their turf. The only question is which Coach Williams’ team will show up.
Temple’s only conference loss this year came from the hands of St. Bonaventure who clearly had an offensive frenzy in their game against the La Salle. Following that loss though, the Explorers retaliated by winning next three out of four games and just fell short in the closing minutes to upsetting the third ranked team in the division, Dayton.
The Explorers are evidently equipped with the aptitude to play against the top-tier A-10 programs, but their inexperience has frequently shackled them to hold leads and close out games. After an early exit from St. Josephs’ in the 2011 tournament, La Salle will look to use this Temple game as a test run before their opening round contest.
Coach Williams has said all year to his unit to take one game at a time and will only focus on the Owls for Saturday’s showdown. But at the conclusion of that game, all eyes will be set on trying to make a further run in the bracket than last year.

waltersj1@student.lasalle.edu