Feb. 10, 2010
Box Score
ST. LOUIS, MO - Despite a 32-point second half and holding Saint Louis to just a pair of made field goals over the last 15 minutes of the game, La Salle Women's Basketball fell to the host Billikens, 62-51, in Atlantic 10 Conference action at Chaifetz Arena Wednesday night.
Antonia Gale scored a team-high 11 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds, while Jamie Walsh added 10 points and a team-high five assists, and each tied for game-high with two steals.
Saint Louis, though, had four players in double figures led by Katie Paganelli's 19 points and Amanda Kemezys' 12 points. Janisha Gearlds added 11 points and game-highs of nine boards and six assists. The Billikens outrebounded La Salle 46-26, grabbing 22 on the offensive side.
After falling behind by six (8-2) four minutes into the game, the Explorers used a 7-0 run to take its only lead of the game at 9-8 with 12:44 left in the first half.
Nadia Duncan started the spurt with a driving lay-up, Chelsea Conner then hit a short jumper and Walsh capped the run with her first three-point basket of the night, the 190th of her career.
The lead was short-lived as the Billikens answered with a 17-2 run over the next seven minutes. In the run, Paganelli hit a pair of threes and scored eight, while Kemezys added five.
Ashley Hanlen gave Saint Louis its largest lead of the first after back-to-back threes, the second with 34 seconds left in the half, off an offensive rebound, that put the Billikens up 33-16.
Saint Louis (8-16, 2-7 A-10) pulled down a total of 13 offensive boards in the first half to help them get off nine more shots. Credit the Explorers, though, who only allowed eight second-chance points in the first and 15 for the game.
Gale scored on a lay-up and converted the and-one just before the break to make it a 14-point halftime deficit. She then scored four of La Salle's first eight points after the break, but the Explorers were still down 16 after her lay-up with 15:44 left in the game.
Lauren Woods, who was the other Billiken in double figures with 10 points, gave her team its largest lead of 18 (45-27) with 15 minutes remaining on a 10-foot jumper. However, Saint Louis would make just two baskets from the field the rest of the way. They would however convert 13-of-18 free throws to never relinquish their lead.
La Salle hit back-to-back threes, by Walsh and Ashley Gale, to quickly cut into the team's deficit, down to 12. But when Danielle Callahan scored on a driving lay-up, the Explorers still trailed by 11 (50-39) with 8:09 left.
The Explorers answered a made Woods foul shot 23 seconds later with an 8-0 run to trim the Saint Louis lead to five. Morgan Robertson knocked down four free throws in the run and Antonia Gale scored on a lay-up with 4:29 to pull La Salle to within 51-46.
Kemezys hit a pair of foul shots a minute later and then turned a Saint Louis steal into a basket to push the Billiken lead to nine and the Explorers would not get closer than six the rest of the way. They hit 7-of-10 from the line to seal their win.
La Salle (5-19, 0-9 A-10) will return to the court hosting Fordham at Tom Gola Arena on Saturday with a 1 PM start.
