ST. BONAVENTURE, NY - Senior Crista Ricketts (Douglasville, PA/Daniel Boone) converted two free throws with three seconds left to lift the La Salle University Women's Basketball team to a 68-67 victory over St. Bonaventure in Atlantic 10 Conference action at the Reilly Center, Thursday night.

Despite trailing for most of the game, the Bonnies' Priscilla Edwards scored on a driving lay-up with 27 seconds left to give St. Bonaventure only its second lead of the game.

Out of a timeout, the Explorers tried to get the ball to junior Carlene Hightower (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Prendergast), but the Bonnies were double teaming her and freshman Jamie Walsh (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown East) instead found Ricketts alone in the lane.

She went for the go-ahead basket, missed, but was fouled. La Salle, who was 16-for-16 from the foul line in the game, sent Ricketts to the line for two shots. She made both and the Bonnies would not get a last-second shot off.

Hightower scored 24 points in the game, her sixth straight game with at least 20, and Ricketts added 22 points and a team-high seven rebounds. It is the fifth time the pair has each scored 20 or more and the Explorers are 4-1 in those games. Junior Melanie Gibbons (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater-Raritan) added a career-high 14 points and had six boards.

Even though La Salle led the entire first half, the game stayed close through the first eight minutes. Leading 16-12, the Explorers scored six straight points capped by a Hightower basket to open a 10-point lead with just under 10 minutes left before the break.

St. Bonaventure (10-8, 0-3 A-10) responded with a 7-2 run to make it just a five-point lead, but Ricketts converted four foul shots and Walsh knocked down a three-pointer to push the La Salle advantage back to 10 at the 4:57 mark of the first. She finished with eight points and three assists.

The Bonnies again chipped away at its deficit getting it to as low as four points after a Julie Molloy basket, but again the Explorers responded with a pair of free throws by Hightower and a Walsh driving lay-up, however they took just a five-point lead (39-34) into intermission.

Out of the locker rooms, St. Bonaventure scored the first basket to cut the deficit to three and it was just a point after a Dana Mitchell basket. They had a chance to take their first lead of the game put Audrey Latendresse's three-point shot missed, and La Salle used an 8-3 run to push its lead to six.

However, there was no quit in Bonnies as they mounted another run, and when Andrea Doneth scored on a driving lay-up with 6:10 left in the game, they had their first lead of the game at 59-58.

Hightower gave the Explorers the lead back on their next possession and they kept it until Edwards' lay-up. She was one of five Bonnies in double figures and ended with a double-double, 12 points, and 13 rebounds and added six assists, as well. Dana Mitchell led the Bonnies with 18 points, while Latendresse chipped in 15.

With the victory, La Salle (15-4, 3-1 A-10) has now won eight road games in a season for the first time since the 1996-97 squad, who also won eight and finished 21-7, the last team to win more than 15 games.

They will look to win their ninth on the road for the first time since the 1991-92 season and reach the 16-win plateau for the first time since 1996-97 when they travel to Massachusetts for an 11:45 AM start, Monday, Jan 22.