Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score
AMHERST, MA - La Salle Women's Basketball had four players in double figures - led by Morgan Robertson with 15 - but Massachusetts also had four players with 10+ points and the Minutewomen took the Atlantic 10 Conference contest, 82-66, Saturday afternoon at the Mullins Center.
Robertson started the scoring for the Explorers, which was followed by a Margaret Elderton three pointer, which put La Salle up 5-3 early in the contest.
However, Massachusetts responded with nine straight points - four from Diatiema Hill and five from Sakera Young, which put the Minutewomen ahead 12-5 five minutes into the game.
La Salle slowly chipped away at the deficit, using - at one point - a 7-0 run to get to within two (24-22). Robertson scored the first four and Jenna Gilbert knocked down a three with 9:30 left in the first.
Then down five (34-29), they scored seven-of-nine points, four from Antonia Gale, and when Gilbert scored on a lay-up with 1:10 left before intermission, the Explorers pulled even at 36-all.
UMass (12-17, 5-9 A-10) then scored the last five points before the break and the first two out of the locker rooms to build its lead back up and it was nine (51-42) with 15:08 left in the game.
La Salle (10-19, 1-13 A-10) made one last run as Gilbert scored again inside, Tara Lapetina knocked down a three, and following a UMass basket, Jamie Walsh also hit a three to cut her team's deficit to three (53-50) just two minutes later.
After Gilbert responded to another UMass basket, the Minutewomen used a quick five-point spurt to push its lead to eight and the Explorers would never get closer than six the rest of the way.
Robertson (15) was joined in double figures by Elderton and Walsh, each with 14, and Gilbert, who had 11 and a team-high six rebounds. Lapetina handed out six assists, as Gale had five points, three boards, and three steals.
It had been more than three years - Feb. 24, 2006 - that La Salle had at least four players reach double figures and did not get the win (at Fordham, 76-68 loss).
UMass was led by Kristina Denella's double-double, 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Season Notes for the Explorers include their 190 made threes - a school record; their 76.4% Free Throw Percentage - second-best ever in a single season; Walsh's 63 made threes - third in a single season; and Robertson's 236 rebounds - the most by an Explorers in 13 seasons.
