Philadelphia, PA - The La Salle University Women's Basketball Team suffered its fifth straight Atlantic 10 loss to the Saint Joseph's University Hawks 68-52, tonight Friday, January 23, 2004. The Explorers fall to 8-8 on the season, 1-5 in the conference, while the Hawks improve to 11-4 overall and 6-0 in the conference, with this their sixth straight win.
La Salle started the game off on the right foot with a three pointer from junior Meghan Wilkinson (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) at the 17:45 mark, it was the first basket of the game. The Explorers followed the three ball up with a jumper from junior co-captain Jill Marano (Crofton, MD/Arundel) and extended their lead to 5-0 with 15:20 to go in the first half.
Saint Joseph's came back strong and behind a few free throws and a three pointer by Elizabeth Mohan tied the game at six with just under 14 minutes to go in the half. The Hawks Stephanie Graff then made two free throws to put her team ahead at 13:40. Saint Joseph's held onto that lead for the remainder of the game. Graff led all scorers with 24 points, she also led her team in rebounds with nine.
The game was evenly matched with one big difference, which came from behind the three point arc. La Salle was just 3-8 from three point land, while the Hawks finished with eight three pointers, three from Mohan.
La Salle was led by Marano with 21 points, she has scored in double digits in twelve of the Explorer's 16 games. Marano also dished out three assists and grabbed two steals. She was the only Explorer to score in double figures.
Senior Kat Foley (Troy, NY/Averill Park) led the team in rebounds with 11, she added seven points while freshman stand out Crista Ricketts (Douglasville, PA/Daniel Boone) recorded eight points in just 18 minutes of play. Ricketts played 13 minutes in the first period, and fouled out of the game with just under 11 minutes to play.
Wilkinson finished the game with five points and six defensive boards, senior co-captain Ekaterina Markova (Sophia, Bulgaria/Vassil Levski), sophomores Davineia Payne (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy), and Lamera Ferguson (Syracuse, NY/Nottingham), along with junior Monica Garrido Sanz (Majadahonda, Madrid/Majadahonda) all combined for 11 points.
The Explorers will host Richmond this Sunday, January 25th for a 12:00 p.m. tip-off. This is the second meeting between the two teams this season, with the first game resulting in the Spiders favor 74-50. .
