Shaune McLaughlin had 14 points, five boards and four assists.

Davineia Payne also had 14 points and added four rebounds.

Carlene Hightower scored 12 points, and had five boards and three assists.

LAWRENCE, KS - With less than four minutes remaining, the La Salle University Women's Basketball team held a seven-point lead over unbeaten Kansas. However, the Jayhawks closed out the game on an 11-4 run as they escaped with a 75-72 victory over the Explorers, Friday night at Allen Fieldhouse.

 

In front of more than 4,000 fans, Kansas (11-0) and off to its best start in program history, used five points in the run by Erica Hallman, who scored all of her 11 points in the second half, and when she hit her only three (1-5) of the night, it gave the Jayhawks a 73-72 lead with 1:02 remaining.

 

La Salle (3-7) had two possessions to retake the lead, but on the first, junior Crista Ricketts (Douglasville, PA/Daniel Boone) missed on a jumper, and after Kansas' Marija Zinic missed her first free throw of a one-and-one, the Explorers had another chance with 12 seconds left.

 

Again the Explorers went to Ricketts off an out-of-bounds play. She was able to get a shot off in traffic, but was unable to get it to fall as La Salle dropped its fourth straight game.

 

Ricketts finished the game with team-highs in points (19) and rebounds (7) and was 9-of-11 at the foul line. Three other Explorers reached double figures in scoring as seniors Shaune McLaughlin (Somers Point, NJ/Mainland Regional) and senior Davineia Payne (Bear, DE/Caravel Academy) each had 14 points and sophomore Carlene Hightower (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Prendergast) added 12 points. The trio also combined for 14 rebounds and nine assists.

 

The Explorers held a 10-9 lead at the 15:57 mark of the first half, but Kansas scored six straight points to take the first lead of more than a basket in the game and after an Ivana Catic basketball, pushed their lead to double figures at 30-20 with 7:35 left in the first.

 

Out of a called time-out by Head Coach Tom Lochner, La Salle responded with a 15-2 run over the next five minutes to take the lead at 35-32. Ricketts started the run with two free throws, sophomore Alyse Hoover (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest) hit a three and a foul shot, Hightower then scored a basket and converted two free throws, McLaughlin hit a three, and the run was capped when Payne scored with 2:38 left in the first half.

 

The Jayhawks scored eight of the final 10 points of the first half to take a 38-37 lead into the break and then scored four straight to start the second half to take a five-point lead, their biggest of the second half.

 

Junior Jenna Graber (Clarksburg, NJ/Peddie School) tied the game at 42-42 with a three-pointer. She was 3-for-3 from behind the arc, her fifth game this season with at least three makes, and finished the game with nine points and four rebounds.

 

The game was again tied at 62-62 with 7:07 left (it was the 10^th tie, there were eight lead changes), before the Explorers scored seven straight points to match its largest lead of the night. And after trading baskets, La Salle held a 71-64 lead with 3:19 to go.

 

Hallman hit a jumper 20 seconds later, and with 2:30 left, Crystal Kemp made it a three-point game with two of her game-high 25 points. She also had a game-high nine rebounds and three blocks. Catic would make it a one-point game with 2:01 left after converted two free throws. She scored 16 points to go along with five assists. After the second miss by Ricketts, Kemp hit two more foul shots to push it to a three-point victory.

 

The Explorers are next in action when they open up Atlantic 10 Conference play with two road dates, at Rhode Island, Tuesday, Jan 3, and at Richmond, Friday, Jan. 6.