Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - After a dismal showing beyond the arc two nights ago, the La Salle women's basketball squad lit it up today, shooting over 58 percent from 3-point territory and clamping down on defense in a hard-fought 56-53 loss to Drexel at Tom Gola Arena on Saturday.

The Explorers (0-3) shot 7-for-12 from three, led by Jordan Mosley's 3-for-4 effort and a perfect 2-for-2 by Ebonee Jones.

"I told them they couldn't shoot any threes," Head Coach Jeff Williams remarked about the adjustment from the 2-for-22 showing just two nights ago against Northeastern. "I didn't let them shoot threes in practice. At the beginning of the game, they were nervous about not being behind the 3-point line that they were passing up shot opportunities, so I said go ahead and take it if you're open, if it's a good three, and we made it."

Brittany Wilson also hit the 20-point mark for the third straight game, pouring in a game-high 26 points on 8-for-14 shooting and a 9-for-11 effort at the free throw line. Mosley added 10 on her three triples and a free throw. She and Shanel Harrison led the team rebounding effort with six apiece, and six of the eight players who saw time pulled down at least three boards.

Hollie Mershon led the Dragons (2-1) with 20 points and Nicki Jones added a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Defensively, the Explorers were terrific in making stops and their rebounding effort yielded 13 second-chance points.

"I'm very excited about the effort today, that's the La Salle women's team we expected to see the first two games," Williams added. "I think if we can maintain that effort and energy, we can win some games. We have to work out some things on offense and get more than one scorer, but defensively I thought we did a tremendous job."

Neither team led by more than six points at any time in the game. Mosley kickstarted the game with a three before Drexel went on an 11-2 run capped by a Mershon layup just after the first media timeout to give the Dragons an 11-5 advantage.

La Salle responded with a 14-2 run of its own, holding Drexel scoreless for nearly eight minutes in that span to take a 19-13 lead behind six Wilson points and five of Harrison's seven points. The Dragons broke their scoreless drought with a Rachel Pearson three at 3:38 before the half and came within one at 19-18 on a Jones jumper.

The Explorers closed out the half on a 7-2 run with a Harrison layup, Mosley free throw and four Wilson points to lead Drexel 26-20 at the break.

Drexel came out of the break and responded with an 8-2 run, thanks to another Pearson triple and five points from Meghan Creighton to knot the game at 28-28 with 16:55 on the clock. Wilson responded with a jumper and two made freebies to push the Explorer lead back to four at 32-28, but a 5-0 Mershon spurt gave Drexel its first lead since midway through the first half at 33-32.

The squads traded leads until a Mershon three at 5:13 shifted the momentum to the visitors. Wilson nailed a free throw to tie it up at 48-48 with 3:09 on the clock, but Renee Johnson-Allen put in a layup to give Drexel the lead for good.

The Dragons led 56-50 with 13 seconds on the clock before Mosley gave the Explorers a fighting chance with a 3-point bomb with eight seconds left. Taylor Wootton missed a shot at the other end, which was picked up by Harrison. She attempted the game-tying buzzer-beater, which was just off the mark for the final 56-53 score.

In all, there were five ties and seven lead changes in the hard-fought contest. La Salle edged Drexel on the glass, 30-29, and turnovers were even at 14 apiece.

The Explorers shot 36.2 percent from the field overall, but 58.3 percent from three. The Dragons went 44.9 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from three.

La Salle hits the road for five straight games, kicked off by a contest at Lehigh on Tuesday (11/20) at 2 p.m. The Explorers return home on Wednesday, Dec. 5, when they host Albany at 7 p.m.