Feb. 23, 2008
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle University Women's Basketball team hung tough for 40 minutes with one of the Atlantic 10's best in Xavier, but eventually fell to the Musketeers, 57-53. Carlene Hightower scored 13 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Explorers, while Morgan Robertson and Jamie Walsh scored 12 and 11, respectively.
La Salle struggled early on with the Musketeers' inside duo of Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips, who helped Xavier jump out to an 8-2 lead.
Melanie Gibbons and Robertson turned up the intensity, hitting clutch shots and forcing turnovers. Robertson drained a shot just inside the three-point arc to bring La Salle to within four at 12-8 midway through the first half.
A 5-0 Xavier run gave the Musketeers' their largest lead of the game, but the Explorers battle back and tied the game at 21-all with 3:22 left in the first half. After Robertson sank the first of two free throws, Ashley Gale pulled down a rebound in traffic and found Hightower open from 15 feet for the basket.
Xavier closed the half on a 9-3 run to take a 30-24 lead into the intermission. Harris got into foul trouble early on, but the Musketeers received a boost off the bench from April Phillips, who led all players with 11 points in the opening stanza.
La Salle opened the second half by scoring the first five points to pull to within one. The two teams battled back and forth before the Explorers regained the lead after a lay-up by Danielle Mickiewicz and a long two from Walsh.
The Musketeers would score four straight to take the lead back, before Walsh knocked down a three to tie the game at 40-all with 9:32 left in the game.
Xavier (20-7, 10-2 A-10) took a two-point lead on its next possession, but neither team would score for the next three minutes until Tudy Reed hit a short jumper to give the Musketeers a 44-40 lead. Their lead would never be larger than four the rest of the way until the last 30 seconds of the game.
Trailing by four with less than two minutes to go, Margaret Elderton made a beautiful pass to Hightower in transition for a basket, cutting the deficit to two with 1:47 left. Elderton dished out a game-high six assists and scored seven points on the afternoon.
La Salle forced Xavier into a long three-point attempt as the shot clock expired in its next possession, however, Harris controlled the rebound, shot and missed, and another offensive board resulted in a foul.
Ta'Shia Phillips missed both of her free throws, and this time it was Reed who grabbed the offensive board. One minute and four seconds after the last Explorer basket, Special Jennings sank a 15-footer to put the Musketeers up by four with 43 seconds left and five made free throws later, they sealed the win.
Xavier had four players in double figures led by Ta'Shia Phillips double-double - 14 points and 13 boards. April Phillips scored a game-high 15 points off the bench to go with eight boards, while Reed had 13 and eight and Harris added 11.
The Musketeers held a 47-28 advantage in rebounds, including 14 offensive boards that led to a 15-2 advantage in second-chance points.
The Explorers (12-15, 4-8 A-10) wrap up their home schedule this Wednesday night when they host city-rival Saint Joseph's. Tip off is slated for 7:00 PM, with senior night festivities getting underway at 6:45.
