PHILADELPHIA, PA - La Salle sophomore Crista Ricketts (Douglasville, PA/Daniel Boone) shot 70% from the field to lead the Explorers in their second Atlantic 10 victory of the season over Dayton 67-61. La Salle improves to 8-9 on the season and 2-4 in the conference. The loss leaves Dayton with the exact same record as the Explorers both overall and in the A-10.
The two teams seemed to be evenly matched keeping the score within three points for the first ten minutes of play. La Salle went on a small run just under ten minutes in the first period to build a seven point lead, but the Flyers fired right back and tied the game at 23 with 2:36 left in the period and then again at 25 with 1:19 left. A lay-up by Dayton's Brittany Holterman with 16 ticks left put the Flyers up 27-25 and a chance to go up three as she was fouled on the shot. She missed the free throw and La Salle junior Shaune McLaughlin (Somers Point, NJ/Mainland Regional) was fouled at the other end. She made one of two free throws to put La Salle down one, 27-26, at the intermission.
The Explorers came out in the second half and made the first two buckets to regain the lead and did not trail for the remainder of the game. With a one point lead at 18:05 the Explorers went on a 10-2 run to go up 40-31 with 14:37 remaining, which was the largest lead of the game. Dayton did not go away easily bringing the game to within two points on three different occasions in the second period. But, for every run the Flyers made, La Salle had an answer largely due to the defensive play of junior Davineia Payne (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) who finished with a game high three steals. Payne scored ten of her 12 points in the second half.
Ricketts led all scorers in the game with 20 points, for her sixth 20-plus point performance this season, tying her for first in the conference. She also out-rebounded all players as she was one away from her third double double of the season with nine. La Salle senior Jill Marano (Crofton, MD.Arundel) tallied ten points from the field and along with McLaughlin led the team in assists as they both dished out four.
La Salle head coach Tom Lochner saw solid play out of freshman Alyse Hoover (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest). Hoover came off the bench to score five first half points in nine minutes of play, she also saw time in the second half aiding La Salle in the defensively charged period. Seniors Meghan Wilkinson (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) and Monica Garrido-Sanz (Majadahonda, Spain/C.B. Majadahonda) netted six points a piece while juniors Lamera Ferguson (Syracuse, NY/Notthingham) and McLaughlin chipped in four points a piece.
The Explorers continue to post impressive numbers from the charity stripe, shooting just under 77% tonight and remaining in the top two in the conference. The Explorers also had a solid game shooting from the field, making 28 of 54 shots from the field. The 51.9% performance from the field marks just the third time this season La Salle shot 50% or better from the field.
Holterman led the way for Dayton, she netted 14 points and pulled down eight rebounds in 30 minutes of play. Just one other Flyer scored in double figures as Angela Cape netted 12, she also pulled down eight boards. The Flyers will travel to Fordham for a 1:00 p.m. contest this Sunday.
La Salle continues conference action at home as they host the Xavier Musketeers this Sunday, January 23rd at 1:00 p.m.
