Feb. 17, 2010
Box Score
PHILADELPHIA - Senior Jamie Walsh knocked down a career-high tying six three-point baskets while La Salle Women's Basketball hit a combined 12, one shy of the school record. However, the Explorers could not hold on to their second-half lead and dropped a 62-57 decision to visiting Massachusetts, Wednesday night in Atlantic 10 action at Tom Gola Arena.
Walsh scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from behind the arc and added three assists and a block to her totals. With her outburst, she now has 202 career three pointers made, which is tied for 19th place on the A-10's career makes list. It also marked the third straight game she has reached double figures.
La Salle trailed by as many as nine in the first half and was down eight (16-8) with under nine minutes left in the period, before Walsh helped the Explorers mount a comeback. She hit her second three of the night at the 8:33 mark and her third, with 5:22 left before the break, pulled La Salle to within three at 21-18.
Antonia Gale, who scored 12 points and added three boards and three steals, scored four straight points after UMass took a five-point lead and Walsh ended the 7-0 run with a three to give La Salle its first advantage of the game.
Massachusetts (10-16, 4-7 A-10) scored the last points heading into the locker rooms to knot the score at 27, and then took a two-point lead on a Jasmine Watson lay-up a minute out of the break. Watson led all scorers with 20 points and added six boards, five on the offensive glass, and three assists.
Tara Lapetina, who scored nine points on 3-of-4 from three-point land and added a career-high tying seven assists, then hit back-to-back threes to push La Salle back in front by four two minutes later.
The Explorer lead was just two at 42-40 with 12 minutes left in the game when they tallied eight straight to build the only double-figure lead by either team in the contest.
Morgan Robertson scored five straight points on a three and a lay-up, Walsh drained her fifth three of the night with 9:13 left, and La Salle led 50-40.
UMass' Kim Benton, who ended the game with five assists and five rebounds, scored all of her nine points, on three threes, in a six-minute span to pull her team to within one. She stopped the La Salle run with a three at the 8:45 mark and her third with 2:28 made 54-53.
Walsh responded with the Explorers 12th three of the contest 20 seconds later, but that would be the last La Salle point of the evening.
The Minutewomen's Kristina Danella hit two free throws with 1:29 to make it a one-point game before Diatiema Hill tied the game on a lay-up and put her team up one with a free throw. Watson put her team ahead three with two free throws and Nicole Jones sealed the game with a lay-up just before the buzzer.
UMass, who leads the conference and are 58th in the nation in three pointers per game at (6.4), made six in the game, and were helped by 12-of-15 from the foul line and 15 offensive rebounds that were turned into 16 second-chance points.
La Salle (6-20, 1-10 A-10), who entering the game was 140th in the country in threes per game at 5.4, has now hit 22 in its last two games.
The Explorers are next in action when they travel to Kingston, RI to take on Rhode Island on Saturday at 1 PM.
Tonight's game was part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "Pink Zone" initiative which raises awareness for breast cancer. More than 1,500 schools nation-wide are participating this season.
