PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball squad looks to bounce back from its first Atlantic 10 loss of the season when the Explorers host A-10 and Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's in a game televised nationally on CBS Sports Network. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. on Sunday.

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Saint Joseph's Hawks (13-4, 2-2) at La Salle Explorers (9-8, 4-1 Atlantic 10).
Sunday, January 19 | 5 PM | Tom Gola Arena
CBS Sports Network (PxP - Ed Cohen; Analysis - Julianne Viani)

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Game Notes
La Salle

All-Time Series
Saint Joseph's holds a 37-9 all-time record in the series that dates back to 1973. The squads played one game prior to 1974, but it does not count in the series record as the Hawks were not a Division I program until the 1973-74 season.

Scouting the Explorers
The Explorers dropped their first A-10 game of the season, 58-35 at St. Bonaventure on Wednesday. Micahya Owens led the team in scoring with nine points, and the squad was limited to a season-low 20.4 percent from the field.

However, the squad's conference record still sits at 4-1, which is the best start since the 2005-06 team also went 4-1 in its first five league contests. The Explorers have won six of their last eight games, including an upset of VCU and securing the largest margin of victory in 16 years with a 78-41 rout of Massachusetts. The Explorers outscored their opponents by nearly 16 points per game in the first four contests, and are still outscoring league opponents by 8.0 ppg after the St. Bonaventure loss.

Alicia Cropper, the reigning Big 5 Player of the Week, drained a career-high 23 points against VCU and Owens followed up with a career-high 23 against UMass last time out in Gola Arena.

Owens continues to lead the squad in scoring on the season with 13.2 ppg while chipping in 4.7 rpg. Cropper is the other Explorer in double figures, contributing 11.8 ppg while also pulling down 5.1 rebounds and dishing out 2.3 assists. Khristin Lee rounds out the top three scorers with 9.2 ppg, while also leading the Atlantic 10 with 2.6 steals per game. She adds 4.9 rpg and 2.6 apg as well.

Leeza Burdgess, who has recorded five double-doubles this season with four of those in the last seven games, leads the team in rebounding with 7.6 boards per game. She is ranked among the league leaders in rebounding and also in offensive boards.

La Salle has averaged 59.1 ppg on the season and yields the same 59.1 ppg to opponents.

Scouting the Hawks

Saint Joseph's will be coming off of one day rest after outlasting Penn 60-52 on Friday night. Erin Shields led the Hawks with 16 points and Ilze Gotfrida added a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The squad is 2-2 in A-10 play so far, having dropped contests to George Washington and VCU while topping Richmond and Rhode Island.

A trio of Hawks average double figures, led by Shields' 15.5 ppg. Sarah Fairbanks adds 14.1 ppg and a team-leading 6.2 rpg, while Natasha Cloud adds 10.9 ppg and 6.0 rpg.


The team shoots over 44 percent from the field while averaging 72.6 ppg. The Hawks hold opponents to 63.3 ppg.