Philadelphia, PA - The Explorer women battled out a cross-town rival with the Temple University Owls, but fell to the 13-3 Owls 57-47. La Salle falls to 7-9 on the season and 1-4 in the conference, while the Owls win their tenth straight and stay undefeated in the conference.

 

The Explorers did not score a field goal in the first 10:12 of the game until junior Davineia Payne (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) knocked down a jumper that sparked a 16-7 run bringing La Salle to within three points with 2:03 remaining in the first period. The Explorers, however, did not score for the remainder of the half and went into the locker room trailing 26-19.

 

The Owls scored the first five points of the second half and built their lead to 12 by the 17:32 mark of the second period. La Salle sophomore Crista Ricketts (Douglasville, PA/Danile Boone) scored the first bucket of the half for the Explorers at the 17:00 mark, but Temple then rattled off  nine straight points to build a 40-21 lead with 13:37 left in the game.

 

La Salle played catch-up for the rest of the game with the lowest margin coming with 1:06 left when senior Meghan Wilkinson (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) made a lay-up to bring her team to within eight. The Explorers could not get past that mark and the Owls recorded their tenth straight victory.

 

La Salle shot just 18.5% from the field in the first half, making just five field goals, while Temple shot nearly 40% in the first period. Both teams committed nine first half turnovers. Temple finished the game with 12 total turnovers, while La Salle finished with 23, turning the ball over 14 times in the second period.

 

The Explorers continue to post impressive numbers from the foul line, shooting 80% on 12-15 from the charity stripe today. Ricketts, who finished the game with 22 points, was 10-13 from the line. Ricketts led the team in both points and rebounds as she tallied eight boards. Wilkinson was the only other player to score more than four points for La Salle, as she netted 11 points. Senior Jill Marano (Crofton, MD/Arundel) finished the game with four points and five different Explorers scored two points a piece.

 

Temple saw two players tally double doubles as Kameisha Hairston netted a team high 15 points and pulled down 12 boards. Teammate Candice Dupree also recorded a double double scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Dupree also led her team in assists with five, steals with five and blocks with two. Both Dupree and Hairston shot 50% from the field, making six shots on 12 attempts.