Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – La Salle used a 15-0 run in the second half to break a 35-35 tie and cruise to a 72-46 victory over visiting Rhode Island on Saturday afternoon in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams. Michea Bryant scored 10 unanswered points in 48 seconds in that decisive span and finished the day with 11 points.
 
Brittany Wilson led all scorers with 17 points and recorded the double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds. She added four assists and three steals. Jordan Mosley scored 12 and Shanel Harrison added 10 to round out four double-figure scorers for the Explorers. Indigo Dickens chipped in a career-best seven points and added five rebounds and two blocked shots.

Brianna Thomas led Rhode Island with 15 points and Megan Straumann added 14 along with a game-high seven steals.

"It's a big win," Head Coach Jeff Williams said. "Any time you can start [the] conference [season] off with a win is huge for us. We've been playing well and it's good to get a victory out."

The Explorers (5-11, 1-0 Atlantic 10) held the Rams scoreless for eight and a half minutes in the first half to build a 17-6 lead. The Rams got within six on a Tati Johnson layup at 5:56 but a Wilson layup and two free throws pushed the Explorers' lead back to 10 at 22-12 with 4:05 until halftime.

Rhode Island (5-11, 0-1 Atlantic 10) closed out the half on a 7-0 run sparked by a Thomas jumper and trimmed the La Salle lead to 22-19 at the break.

The visiting squad chipped away, tying the game at 35-35 at the 14:12 point on a Teneka Whittaker free throw, but could never gain the lead. Mosley nailed a three-pointer at 12:34 to spark a 15-0 La Salle run which proved to be the deciding run.

Bryant lit up the scoreboard, accounting for 10 of those 15 points when she went on a 10-0 run of her own. She hit a triple at 9:48 and converted the and-one after being fouled behind the arc. Mosley snagged a rebound on the other end of the court and fed Bryant for a back-to-back three at 9:15. Fifteen seconds later, Wilson grabbed a steal and sent the ball in to Wilson in the paint for a layup. She was once again fouled and converted the and-one for her tenth straight point.

"We struggled a little bit toward the end of the first half and into the second half, and Michea Bryant was huge," Williams added. "She scored 10 points in 48 seconds. Indigo Dickens [also] made a couple big baskets in that time, so it was good to see other people besides Brittany Wilson and Shanel Harrison step up. It's going to have to be a team effort for us to have success this year."

Rhody's Straumann broke up the Rams' scoreless streak with a free throw at 8:40 but the Rams would not hit another field goal until 5:09, a total of nine minutes and 40 seconds. During that span, the Explorers built a 23-point 59-36 lead. Thomas got the field goal for the Rams but Wilson and Mosley answered with back-to-back layups to push the La Salle lead to 25. At that point, the Explorers were outscoring the Rams 33-3 since being tied up earlier in the half.

A Jess Koci jumper pushed the lead to 30, the largest margin of the game, with 2:51 on the clock and the Explorers cruised to the victory.

After going just 28 percent (7-for-25) in the first half, the Explorers shot 52.6 percent (20-for-38) in the second frame. They finished the game at 42.9 percent.

Rhode Island was limited to 28.3 percent (15-for-53) from the field for the game.

The Explorers commanded the boards, 47-36, and forced 25 Ram turnovers. The squad also recorded 16 assists on 27 field goals, led by Wilson' and Ebonee Jones' four helpers apiece.

The Explorers head on the road on Wednesday (1/16) for a visit to #22/17 Dayton. Tipoff from Dayton is set for 7 p.m.