Box Score
PHILADELPHIA -
Jada Payne was the team-high scorer for the third straight game, but the La Salle women's basketball squad fell to St. Bonaventure 75-57 on Saturday at Tom Gola Arena in a nationally televised contest.
Payne scored 11 points, while
Nadia Duncan and
Alexis Scott chipped in 10 apiece for the Explorers (9-12, 3-3 Atlantic 10).
Brittany Wilson was limited to nine points but pulled down a game-best eight rebounds.
SBU's Jessica Jenkins proved why she was this week's National Player of the Week, scorching the nets for 28 points on 8-of-13 shooting from 3-point range. Megan Van Tatenhove added 16 points and seven rebounds, and Doris Ortega contributed 12 points for the Bonnies (20-2, 7-0 Atlantic 10), who came into today's contest just two spots out of the Top 25.
The squads traded leads early with the Explorers' last lead coming at the 14:51 mark of the first half, as they were up 11-10. A Van Tatenhove layup at 14:18 sparked an 11-2 Bonnies run to put the score at 21-13. A made free throw by
Jess Koci brought the Explorers back within five at 23-18 with 10:03 on the clock, but the Bonnies outscored the Explorers 20-9 through the rest of the half to go up 43-27 at the break.
The Bonnies never gave up their double-digit lead, pushing it to 23 on three different occasions in the second half.
La Salle shot 44.9 percent for the game (22-49) and St. Bonaventure went 52.7 percent (29-55), including 61.3 percent in the first half (19-31). The Bonnies went 9-of-24 from behind the arc, eight of those coming from Jenkins. The Explorers were limited to 2-of-7 from long range.
The Explorers head back on the road on Wednesday (2/1) for 12 p.m. game at Fordham.
Today's contest was the annual Coaches vs. Cancer® Suits and Sneakers awareness game, a collaborative initiative of the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Head Coach
Jeff Williams and his staff participated by wearing sneakers instead of dress shoes during the game to demonstrate their support for the American Cancer Society and its vision of a world with less cancer and more birthdays.
Thanks to the dedicated efforts of college and high school coaches and fans across the country, Coaches vs. Cancer participants have raised more than $70 million since 1993 to help the Society fund groundbreaking cancer research, provide up-to-date cancer information and education, advocate for public health policies that benefit communities, and deliver services that improve the quality of life for patients and their families. Additional information is available at coachesvscancer.org.
About the National Association of Basketball Coaches
Located in Kansas City, Missouri, the NABC was founded in 1927 by Forrest “Phog” Allen, the legendary basketball coach at the University of Kansas. Allen, a student of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, organized coaches into this collective group to serve as Guardians of the Game. The NABC currently has nearly 5,000 members consisting primarily of university and college men's basketball coaches. All members of the NABC are expected to uphold the core values of being a Guardian of the Game by bringing attention to the positive aspects of the sport of basketball and the role coaches play in the academic and athletic lives of today's student-athletes. The four core values of being a Guardian of the Game are advocacy, leadership, service and education. Additional information about the NABC, its programs and membership, can be found at www.nabc.org.
