PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle women's basketball squad finds itself in Richmond for the second time this season, this time to take on Atlantic 10 newcomer VCU at the Siegel Center on Sunday, with tipoff at 1 p.m.

La Salle Explorers (8-16, 4-5 Atlantic 10) @ VCU Rams (9-15, 2-7 Atlantic 10)
Siegel Center | Richmond, Va.
Sun, Feb. 17, 2013 | 1:00 p.m.

Live Stats | Live Video | In-Game Twitter Updates (@ExplorerGameDay) | Game Notes

The Match-Up

Sunday's contest marks the first-ever matchup between La Salle and VCU.

Scouting the Explorers

The Explorers are riding high after pulling out a win on Wednesday against Saint Louis, thanks to Shanel Harrison's buzzer-beating three-pointer to lift the squad to a 49-46 victory. Harrison drained a game-best 23 points against the Billikens. Ebonee Jones added eight points and three assists and Siobhan Beslow pulled down a team-best seven rebounds in the Explorers' third straight win in the series with the Billikens.

The one-two punch of Harrison and Jones is making up for the loss of Atlantic 10 leading scorer Brittany Wilson to injury. Harrison has reached double figures in the last seven straight games, averaging 17.1 points per game in that stretch. She now averages 11.9 ppg on the season, which moved her up to 14th in the Atlantic 10 overall scoring ranking. She averages 14.9 ppg in Atlantic 10 play, ranking fifth. Harrison is also the leading active rebounder with 6.4 per game, ranking in the top 20 in the league.

Jones has averaged 15.0 ppg in the last six, and hit double digits in five of those six including two 21-point outputs. Her 12.6 ppg scoring clip in league play ranks her 15th in the A-10. She also contributes 5.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.

Beslow has added a defensive mind to the floor, starting the last four games and averaging 6.3 rebounds in that time. That is well above her season average of 3.9 boards per game.

The squad ranks in the top half of the Atlantic 10 in a number of categories, including being tied for third in the league with 14.8 offensive rebounds per game. The Explorers are fourth in blocked shots (4.8 bpg), sixth in both steals (8.5 spg) and turnover margin (+0.71) and eighth in free throw percentage (69.7%). The Explorers have gotten turnovers under control in league play, as they boast a +2.22 margin when counting A-10 games only.

The Explorers score 55.0 ppg, yielding 61.8 ppg to opponents.

Scouting the Rams

VCU has struggled this year, posting only a 9-15 overall record and just 2-7 in its inaugural Atlantic 10 season. The Rams did pick up a win in their last game, knocking off St. Bonaventure 64-51 behind a big second half. Robyn Parks, the second-leading scorer in the Atlantic 10 behind Wilson, poured in 21 points in the win. Freshman Jessica Pellechio added 16.

Parks scores a team-best 17.9 ppg and Pellechio adds 10.4. Parks is also the squad's leading rebounder, pulling down 7.5 boards per game. Kaneisha Atwater rounds out the top three scorers wtih 7.3 ppg.

As a team, VCU scores 59.2 ppg while yielding 62.2 to opponents. The team ranks second in the A-10 with 11.0 steals per game and is tied for second with Duquesne with 5.5 made threes per game. The Rams also rank fifth with 14.4 offensive rebounds per outing.

Next Up

The Explorers head across town to Hagan Arena on Wednesday (2/20) for a 7 p.m. tipoff against A-10 and Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's.