Jan. 5, 2009
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA – Tied at 58-all, Ashley Gale knocked down a three-point basket with three seconds left to complete the Explorers improbable come-from-behind win – they scored the game’s final 12 points – and La Salle Women’s Basketball defeated Penn, 61-58, in its final non-conference contest of the season at the Palestra, Monday night in Big 5 action.
Gale led the Explorers with a season-high 20 points, which included four three pointers, and added a game-high tying seven rebounds and a career-high four steals. Margaret Elderton, who scored seven of the 12 points in the final run, netted 19 points with four boards and three assists.
Trailing by four at the start of the second half, Penn used a 19-4 run, which included 15 straight points over a seven-minute stretch, to open its largest lead of the game at 11 with just under 12 minutes left in regulation. Carrie Biemer scored 15 of her game-high 26 points in the span and her 24th point of the night at the 11:48 mark gave the Quakers a 45-34 lead.
Elderton, who scored 17 of her points after the break, then sparked an 11-2 Explorer run with a pair of free throws and a coast-to-coast driving layup. Jamie Walsh capped the run with her second three-point basket of the night with 8:54 left, pulling La Salle to within three at 48-45.
Penn (3-9, 0-4 Big 5) responded with a 10-4 run over the next six minutes to build its lead back to nine. Kelly Scott, who scored 11 second-half points, scored on an old-fashion three, then put the Quakers up nine (54-45) with her only three of the night with 5:57 left. The lead was back to nine (58-49) after Caitlin Slover converted a pair of free throws with 2:54 remaining in regulation.
La Salle (9-6, 2-0 Big 5) started its 12-0 run to close the game with an Elderton three, which was followed by a Morgan Robertson steal – she had three in the game – and an Elderton layup to cut the deficit to four (58-54) with 2:17 to play.
After Penn missed the front end of a one-and-one, Antonia Gale knocked down a pair of free throws on the other end to make it a two-point game. After the teams traded missed shots, Slover missed a jumper with 46 ticks left and Elderton came down with the board, went coast-to-coast and was fouled.
She made her two with 42 seconds left and La Salle forced Slover into another miss with 15 seconds left and called timeout to set up a play. Elderton took the inbounds pass, dribbled to the top of the key, found Ashley Gale on the right side and she hit the three for the game-winner.
Ironically, the Explorers started the game hot – 8-of-10 from the field in the first seven minutes to open their largest lead of the game of 11. After back-to-back threes from Ashley Gale and Tara Lapetina, La Salle led 19-8.
But as Penn also did in the second half, they held La Salle scoreless for an eight-minute span and used a 13-0 run to take its first lead of the game in the first. Scott scored six and Biemer netted five in the run – they were a combined 8-of-10 from the floor in the first half, the rest of the team 3-of-21.
La Salle recovered and took a 30-26 lead into the break after Lapetina hit her second three of the night. The Explorers hit a total of nine in the game. Also, with the Lapetina basket, La Salle has now scored the final points of the half in 10 of its contests and is now 7-3.
Despite being outrebounded by more than 10 (37-24), La Salle outscored Penn 10-0 on the break and held a 25-4 advantage in points off turnovers. Their 13 steals in the game was the most since taking away 14 in Dec. 16, 2006 at Quinnipiac.
Robertson ended the night with seven boards, and six points, Walsh had eight points, four assists, and Lapetina had six points, three assists.
The Explorers are next in action when they open the Atlantic 10 Conference schedule Saturday, Jan. 10 at Saint Bonaventure with a 1:30 PM tip.
