PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle women's basketball squad starts its march toward a third straight Atlantic 10 Tournament berth when the Explorers open A-10 play on Saturday, hosting Rhode Island at 4:30 p.m. in a doubleheader with the men's team.

Rhode Island Rams (5-10) @ La Salle Explorers (4-11)
Tom Gola Arena | Philadelphia, Pa.
Saturday, Jan. 12, 2012 | 4:30 p.m.

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The Match-Up

The Explorers and Rams will meet for the 24th time on Saturday in the series that dates back to 1985. La Salle has dominated the series, winning 21 of the previous 23 meetings and the last three. The two squads went toe-to-toe in Kingston last season with the Explorers pulling out the 49-45 win. Former guard Alexis Scott led all scorers with 21 points, and Brittany Wilson chipped in 11 in the victory.

Scouting the Explorers

The Explorers are coming off of a tough 67-62 loss at Richmond on Monday in the final nonconference game of the season. Wilson poured in a season-high 27 points and Shanel Harrison added 14.

Wilson begins A-10 play as the league's leading scorer, having held the top spot since day one of this season. She is currently averaging 18.9 points per game. Her 27 points at Richmond marked the ninth 20+ point game of the season. She also leads the team in rebounding with 6.5 boards per game and dishes out a team-best 2.5 assists.

With 15.5 ppg in the last two, Harrison has upped her scoring average to 10.1 ppg. She scored a game-high 17 at Rutgers before dropping in 14 at Richmond. She has now hit double figures in three of the last four games, and in seven games overall. Harrison also chips in 6.1 rebounds per game and has recorded 11 blocked shots.

Ebonee Jones rounds out the top three scorers with 9.7 ppg, thanks to a three-game stretch of averaging 16.7 which helped launch the Explorers to three wins to close out the 2012 calendar year.

Scouting the Rams

Rhode Island comes in looking for its first win since a Dec. 16th victory over Rhode Island College. The Rams' latest defeat came at the hands of Harvard, a 63-56 loss. Freshman Brianna Thomas scored a career-best 15 points against the Crimson.

Tayra Melendez is the lone Ram averaging double figures, scoring 10.6 points per game. Samantha Tabakman adds 9.1 and Emilie Cloutier chips in 8.3.

Tabakman leads the Ram defense, pulling down a team-best 7.9 boards per game. She has also recorded 21 blocked shots to lead the squad.

As a team, Rhode Island averages 52.5 points per game while yielding 57.3 points to opponents.

Next Up

The Explorers head on the road during the week, taking on Dayton on Wednesday (1/16) at 7 p.m.