PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball squad remains in the friendly confines of Tom Gola Arena this weekend, hosting Massachusetts on Saturday at 1 p.m. and looking to extend a three-game win streak to four.

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Massachusetts Minutewomen (3-13, 0-2) at La Salle Explorers (8-7, 3-0 Atlantic 10).
Saturday, January 11 | 1 PM | Tom Gola Arena

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Game Notes
La Salle

All-Time Series
UMass owns a 14-8 advantage in a series dating back to 1985; however, the Explorers have dominated as of late, winning the last three meetings including two on the road at the Mullins Center.

Scouting the Explorers
The Explorers have hit their stride after struggling early in the season, and have now won five of their last six games. This includes their second 3-0 start in Atlantic 10 play in the last three years, knocking off Rhode Island, George Mason and VCU.

Cropper drained a career-best 23 points and Leeza Burdgess recorded a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds as the Explorers held on for a 63-58 upset of VCU in its last game. The Explorers limited the high-scoring Rams to a season-low 58 points and limited A-10 leading scorer Robyn Parks to 15 points, well under her 23.7 ppg average heading into the game.

Burdgess is the reigning Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week. The graduate center has notched four double-doubles in the last five games, averaging 12.6 ppg and 12.6 rpg in those five games dating back to the Dec. 29 contest against Dartmouth. In that span, she set a new career mark with 19 rebounds against Binghamton and matched her old career high of 16 in the Explorers' rout of George Mason.

She has anchored what has proven to be a strong defensive unit as five players average over five rebounds per game. As a team, the Explorers rank fourth in rebounding offense with 43.0 boards per game and fifth with a +4.7 rebounding margin.  The Explorers are also second in the league with 16.4 offensive rebounds per game, a number that significantly helped them upset VCU as they garnered 16 second-chance points off of the offensive glass.

The Explorers rank third in the Atlantic 10 by holding opponents to a scant 60.3 points per game, lowering that figure on Wednesday by holding VCU to its season-low total of 58 points.

Point guard Khristin Lee continues to lead the A-10 with 2.8 steals per game, while chipping in 9.9 points and 5.2 rebounds.

The squad is also picking up its offensive rhythm. Burdgess has hit double figures in points in the past five consecutive games. Cropper has hit double figures in four of the last five, including her career-high 23-point explosion against VCU on Wednesday.

Micahya Owens continues to lead the squad in scoring with 12.8 ppg, and Cropper upped her season average to 12.5. Lee's 9.9 is third on the squad, and Burdgess's touch as of late has raised her season average to 9.1. She averaged just 7.4 heading into the recent five-game stretch, before averaging 12.6 ppg in that stretch.

Scouting the Minutewomen

UMass has struggled this season, going just 3-13 and 0-2 in the first two Atlantic 10 games. The Minutewomen suffered a 112-54 setback at VCU in the opener and dropped a 75-61 decision to Fordham last weekend.

UMass is looking for its first win since a 69-61 triumph at Kent State on Dec. 17. The Minutewomen also own an upset win over Rutgers (64-63 on Nov. 20) and a win at Hartford (63-59 on Nov. 23).

La Salle and UMass, although they did not play each other, got a look at each other at Dartmouth's Blue Sky Classic over winter break. UMass dropped both of its games to Binghamton and Dartmouth, while La Salle went 1-1.

Two players average double figures for the squad, led by Kim Pierre-Louis who scores 11.9 ppg. Emily Mital adds 10.6 ppg, with the next highest scorers coming in at 7.9 ppg (Jasmine Harris and Nola Henry). Rashida Timbilla leads on the boards, pulling down 7.6 rpg while chipping in 7.2 ppg.

UMass ranks last in the conference with a -16.6 scoring margin. The squad scores 62.2 ppg while yielding 78.8 to opponents.