Feb. 13, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - Behind a season-high tying 10 three-point baskets and 56.1% shooting from the floor, La Salle Women's Basketball won its first Atlantic 10 Conference contest of the season, defeating Fordham, 70-62, at Tom Gola Arena Saturday afternoon.
Jamie Walsh led the Explorers with a season-high tying five threes and scored 19 points to go with a pair of assists and steals, while Tara Lapetina led all players with five assists and added 13 points and Morgan Robertson scored 11 to go with a game-high tying seven rebounds.
The victory ends La Salle 10-game overall losing streak and its 13-game home conference losing skid. The Explorers last A-10 home win was on Feb. 16, 2008, also against the Rams. They are also now 5-1 when scoring at least 60 points this season.
La Salle jumped out to a quick six-point lead as Lapetina and Walsh buried three-point baskets to start the game and were up 8-2 after Robertson's first basket of the game.
However, the Rams used a 9-0 run to take a three-point lead and after a Becky Peters' three, who had 15 points, five boards and four steals, and Fordham had its biggest lead of the game at four (14-10) with 11:48 left in the first.
The teams traded the lead four times in the first half and the score was tied three times, the last time when Kyara Weekes hit a three with a 1:26 left in the half to knot the score at 26 heading into the break.
La Salle, who shot 10-20 in the first half, came out of the locker rooms on fire, connecting on 10 of its first 13 shots, including 5-of-6 from behind the arc. That helped the Explorers build a 10-point advantage, 53-43, with 8:52 left in the game.
Seven Explorers scored during the stretch, which included Walsh knocking down four three-point baskets, Lapetina one, Nadia Duncan scoring on a pair of lay-ups, Robertson hitting one, Ashley Gale turning one of her two steals into a fast-break lay-up, and Danielle Callahan converting on a three-point play.
Fordham (8-18, 2-9 A-10) then turned its offense over to Randall Hurst, who had 20 points in the teams' first meeting this year. To the point, she had just six, but scored her team's next nine points to pull them to within six at 58-52.
After the Explorers hit 3-of-4 from the foul line to push their lead back to nine, the Rams followed a Arielle Collins three with a steal and Hurst fast-break lay-up to pull to within four, 61-57, with 1:30 left in the game.
La Salle (6-19, 1-9 A-10) converted 7-of-7 from the line the rest of the way to seal the win as Fordham made just two of six shots from the floor down the stretch.
Hurst ended with a game-high 22 points - off the bench - with six rebounds and three assists, while Kristina Bell added 13 points and Charlotte Stoddart tied for the game-high with seven rebounds.
Off the bench for the Explorers were Callahan, who tallied a season-high eight points to go with three assists, and Gale, who had seven points, three assists and two steals. Antonia Gale had four points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The 10 three pointers ties the season-high set at Delaware (12/13), and Walsh's five now give her 196 for her career, one shy of 20th on the A-10 all-time list. That is significant, because only three Explorers currently rank in any of the 10 career categories kept by the A-10.
The Explorers will return to the court when they host Massachusetts on Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena. Tip time is set for 7 PM.
