Philadelphia, PA - Head Coach John Miller reached his 310th victory today as the La Salle University Women's Basketball team defeated the University of Massachusetts Minutewomen 64-60 in the Atlantic 10 opener. The Explorers improve to 8-3 on the season with this their fifth win in a row, while the Minutewomen fall to 4-8.

La Salle trailed for the majority of the game, down by 15 points with 1:15 left in the first half. The Explorers shot just 31% in the first half on 9-29 from the field and went into the locker room down 13 (35-22). The Minutewomen out rebounded the Explorers 25-10 in the first period.

The Explorers came out strong in the second half going on a 13-4 run in the first six minutes behind the play of junior co-captain Jill Marano (Crofton, MD/Arundel), who opened the second half with a three pointer. She scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half.

La Salle continued to trail throughout the second half, they brought the game to within two at the 10:20 mark, but the Minutewomen answered right back and took the lead back up to 11 points with 6:07 left in the game. La Salle junior Meghan Wilkinson (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) nailed a three pointer at the 2:58 mark to tie the game at 56, it was the first time the Explorers had not trailed since 11:28 in the first half. Wilkinson finished the game with 12 points, all from three point land.

The Explorers went on a 19-4 run to finish the game, 14 of the 19 points came from Marano. She was 8-8 from the foul line in the last four minutes. Senior Kat Foley (Troy, NY/Averill Park) was the only other Explorer to score in double digits, she recorded 11 points and pulled down four boards.

Freshman Crista Ricketts (Douglasville, PA/Daniel Boone) added eight points in the win, she also had two steals. Sophomore Davineia Payne (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) and junior Monica Garrido Sanz (Majadahonda, Madrid/C.B. Majadahonda) led all players in rebounds pulling down six. Payne added seven points and three assists while Garrido Sanz had three points, two assists and three steals.

The victory today was Miller's 310th. He surpasses Billy Ferguson (Saint Joseph's University) in Big 5 victories as a Head Coach, making him sixth behind Rollie Massimino (Villanova) who has 357.

The Explorers continue conference action this Tuesday, January 6th as they host Duquesne in Tom Gola Arena, set to tip-off at 7:00 p.m.