KINGSTON, R.I. - Leeza Burdgess scored 15 points, and the La Salle women's basketball squad outlasted Rhode Island 50-44 in overtime in the Atlantic 10 opener for both squads at the Ryan Center on Thursday afternoon.

Burdgess's 15 points tied a game high with Rhody's Tayra Melendez. Micahya Owens drained 14 points and Khristin Lee chipped in 10 off the bench.

Alicia Cropper pulled down a career-high and game-high 10 rebounds and Jasmine Alston added nine as the Explorers outrebounded the Rams 55-38. Rhode Island came in to the game sporting a league-best +8.2 rebounding margin.

The Explorers (6-7, 1-0 Atlantic 10) got out to a 7-4 lead less than three minutes in, but Rhode Island came back with a 7-0 spurt over the next four minutes to take an 11-7 lead. A Lee steal at 12:26 followed by a layup and plus-one sparked a 9-0 Explorer run. Lee then drained a three-pointer and Owens followed up with a trey of her own to put the Blue & Gold up 16-11 midway through the period.

The Rams (5-9, 0-1 Atlantic 10) closed out the half outscoring the Explorers 11-5 and the teams took a 22-22 tie into the halftime break.

La Salle came out of the half with a 14-3 run to take their largest lead of the game at 36-25. Burdgess scored three straight layups under the basket in that run, and in total scored 12 of her 15 points in the second half.

The Rams responded with a 9-0 run to draw within 36-34 at 8:19, capped by a Melendez fastbreak layup. Owens broke up the Rams' momentum with a layup at 8:09. Both teams then went scoreless for nearly four minutes until Burdgess gave the Explorers a six-point 40-34 cushion with two free throws at 4:36.

A 6-0 Rhody spurt capped the Rams' comeback efforts to tie the game at 40-40 with 1:41 on the clock. Burdgess put the Explorers back up with a layup at the one-minute mark and the game appeared in La Salle control with a Cropper steal on the next possession. However, a turnover gave the ball back to the home team and Melendez drained a layup with 11 seconds left.

The Explorers had another chance but missed two shots to send the game to overtime.

The Explorers controlled the overtime period, outscoring the Rams 8-2 for the final 50-44 score. Lee scored the game-winning bucket with 3:47 on the clock and the Explorers kept Rhode Island off the board until just seven seconds remained. Two Cropper free throws with six seconds left iced the game.

Both teams were hampered by cold shooting. The Explorers went just 27.9 percent from the field (19-68) and 3-of-16 from long range. They also hit just 9 of 19 free throws. The Rams went 36.0 percent (18-50) from the field and just 1-for-6 in the overtime period.

The Explorers' bright spot was their rebounding, as they pulled down a season-best 55 boards to mark the second straight 50+ rebound game. The teams combined for 44 turnovers.

La Salle returns to action on Saturday (1/4), traveling to George Mason for a 7 p.m. tipoff.