Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle took control of a back-and-forth contest with a 10-0 run midway through the second half and held on to defeat Central Connecticut State 71-60 at Tom Gola Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Leeza Burdgess and Micahya Owens tied for game-high scoring honors with 15 points each. Burdgess drained 13 of her 15 in the second half, and added a game-high-tying nine rebounds.

Khristin Lee was the third Explorer in double figures, scoring 10 points while adding four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Jasmine Alston put together another solid outing, pulling down seven rebounds and dishing out a game-high six assists while chipping in five points and two steals.

CCSU's Kaley Watras led the visitors with 13 points, 10 of those coming in the first half. Kayla Miller was the other Blue Devil in double figures with 10 points along with a game-high-tying nine rebounds.

CCSU (3-3) jumped out to a 10-4 lead through the first six minutes thanks to eight of Watras' points. That was the most the Explorers would trail in the game, however, as Siobhan Beslow converted a traditional three-point play to spark a 10-0 run. Burdgess added a jumper in the paint, Alston drained a layup and Owens connected from downtown to cap the run and give the Explorers a 14-10 lead at the 11:02 mark.

The teams traded leads throughout the remainder of the first half as neither could pull far ahead thanks to a subpar shooting effort on both squads. Both teams shot less than 40 percent in the first half, the Blue Devils going 11-for-28 and the Explorers hitting 11-of-33 en route to a 29-29 halftime score.

The second half started in much the same fashion with five ties and four lead changes through the first 5:55 of the half. With CCSU up by two at 14:25, Burdgess made a shot from down low at 14:05 to spark the deciding 10-0 run and the Explorers never trailed after that. Rookie Deja Bullock added all four of her points in that stretch that spanned until CCSU's Watras broke the run with a three-pointers at 11:21.

The Explorers (2-3) could not quite put away the Blue Devils, with the visitors pulling within three on two Johnna Fisher free throws with 4:13 left, but that was the closest CCSU would get down the stretch. The Explorers converted five of their final six free throws to seal the game including two by Alicia Cropper with 24 seconds remaining for the final 71-60 score and the Explorers' biggest lead of the game.

After going just 33.3 percent in the first half, the Explorers lit up for a 51.9 percent showing from the field in the second half to finish with a 41.7 shooting percentage. Free throws, which the team has struggled with, were up this game with the squad nailing 18 of their 25 attempts.

CCSU shot just 32.8 percent for the game including only 27.8 percent in the second half.

The Explorers were dominant on the glass, outrebounding the Blue Devils 46-39 and had been outrebounding them 44-29 at one point in the second half. The Explorers also forced the Blue Devils into 17 turnovers to just 12 miscues for the Blue & Gold.

La Salle returns to action at Tom Gola Arena on Monday night (12/2), hosting Big 5 rival Penn at 7 p.m.