Box Score
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -
Shanel Harrison scored 17 points to lead all scorers, but La Salle (4-10) dropped the defensive battle with Rutgers 54-50 at the Rutgers Athletic Center on Wednesday night.
Harrison scored all 17 of her points in the second half, going 5-of-8 from the floor and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line.
Brittany Wilson added 12 points, 10 of those on free throws, and
Jordan Mosley rounded out double figure scorers with 10 points.
Erica Wheeler led the Scarlet Knights (9-4) with 14, and Rachel Hollivay and Betnijah Laney contributed 11 apiece.
A sloppy first half for both squads yielded a slim 13-11 halftime score. The Explorers went without a field goal for over 12 minutes and connected on just three in the first stanza. The Scarlet Knights had an equally rough go, also putting together a span of nearly 13 minutes without a field goal and hitting just five in the half. The two squads combined for 26 first-half turnovers.
Harrison hit her first three points out of the halftime break to put the Explorers up 14-13 and the teams traded leads early in the half. A Harrison layup at 14:34 knotted the score at 19-19 but a 15-2 Scarlet Knight run over the next five minutes became the deciding run.
The Explorers chipped away to get within four thanks to a 9-0 run of their own but did not get past the four-point barrier down the stretch thanks to Rutgers hitting eight of 10 free throws in the final minute. Down seven, Mosley launched a three with two seconds remaining for the final 54-50 score.
Rutgers shot 35.7 percent for the game, going 20 percent in the first half before hitting 48.4 percent in the second stanza. La Salle was limited to 28.6 percent overall. Rutgers owned a 44-39 advantage on the boards. After 26 first half turnovers, the second half was also sloppy with the teams adding 20 more combined miscues.
La Salle wraps up nonconference play at Richmond on Monday (1/7) at 7 p.m. The contest does not count toward Atlantic 10 standings due to the new scheduling format this season.
