PHILADELPHIA - Junior Morgan Robertson registered her second career double-double with career-highs in points (14) and rebounds (11) to help lead La Salle Women's Basketball to a 71-57 victory over the visiting Long Island Blackbirds Sunday afternoon in non-conference action at Tom Gola Arena.
Senior Margaret Elderton scored a team-high 16 points, while junior Jamie Walsh and sophomore Ashley Gale each added 11 points. All three players knocked down three three-point baskets as the Explorers, as a team, hit 10 - one shy of the La Salle game record.
The game did not start off well for the host team, though, as the Blackbirds built a 10-point advantage six minutes into the game, and after a Chelsi Johnson three pointer, Long Island led 15-5.
La Salle scored six straight points - four by freshman Nadia Duncan - to spark a two-minute rally, but the lead was back to eight after Ashley Palmer scored on back-to-back jumpers to push their lead back to 19-11.
After being held scoreless in the opener at Villanova Friday and grabbing just one rebound, Robertson bookended an Explorer 20-4 run with a pair of lay-ups and scored six points and pulled down four rebounds in the five-minute, 30-second run, which turned an eight-point deficit into an eight-point lead, 31-23.
Long Island (0-1) responded by getting the game to within four at the half (36-32). Out of the locker room, Palmer hit a pair of threes and scored eight points in a four-minute span to give the Blackbirds a four-point lead, 44-40, with 15:38 left in the game. Palmer, in her first collegiate game, led Long Island with 30 points and 16 boards.
The Explorers then held the Blackbirds scoreless for over four minutes and went on an 13-0 run to take command of the game. Walsh hit a pair of threes, while freshman Jenna Gilbert started the run with a lay-up, junior Danielle Mickiewicz added another, and the run was capped on junior Tara Lapetina's three with 11:29 to go, putting La Salle up 53-44.
The two teams traded points for the next five minutes before Elderton knocked down the Explorers 10th three-point basket of the afternoon to increase La Salle's advantage into double figures and Long Island would never get it below 10 the rest of the way.
Elderton and Walsh each added four assists, while Mickiewicz and Gale each had two blocks, and Gale, Elderton, and Gilbert each collected two steals as La Salle had 10 steals in the game.
La Salle (2-0) continues a three-game homestand hosting Delaware on Wednesday night at 7 PM.
Additional Notes:
* La Salle is now 31-6 all-time in home openers and, since 1984, are 22-3.
* The Explorers improved to 4-0 all-time versus Long Island and are 25-5 against current Northeast Conference opponents. Quinnipiac is the only Northeast team La Salle has never beaten (0-3).
* This is the second straight game La Salle has had four players score at least 10 points. Last season, it happened five times and the Explorers were 5-0.
* Due mostly to injuries, it had been more than a year - Nov. 14, 2007 vs. Loyola (MD) - that La Salle had 11 Explorers see action in a game.
