BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The La Salle women's basketball squad put together its strongest shooting effort of the young season, hitting nearly 47 percent from the field in a 71-66 win over LIU Brooklyn in the opener of the LIU Turkey Classic on Friday afternoon.

Micahya Owens led a quartet of Explorers (3-2) in double figures with 14 points. Alicia Cropper returned from injury to contribute 13 points; Siobhan Beslow recorded a near double-double of 12 points and nine rebounds; and Amy Griffin chipped in 10 points off the bench.

Griffin also became the first player since Chrissy Walker in 2002 to record five blocked shots in a game. She recorded half of the team's 10 rejections against the Blackbirds. The Explorers were averaging 5.8 blocks per game entering the weekend to rank third in the Atlantic 10.

LIU Brooklyn's Jolanna Ford led all players with 17 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Sophie Bhasin added 16 points and eight rebounds, and Letava Whippy chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds.

An intensely physical game from the opening whistle, the Explorers managed to build a 14-7 lead through the first four minutes of the game by hitting all six of their first six shots. The Blackbirds responded to get within one at 14-13, before the Explorers went on another seven-point run to go up 21-13. The remainder of the first half consisted of scoring runs, with the Explorers going up 35-25 on a 10-0 spurt followed by the Blackbirds going on a 9-0 run to finish out the half.

The Blackbirds (0-3) also scored the first four points of the second half to take their first lead since early, and went up as many as five at 42-37 with 16:45 on the clock. The Explorers responded with a 6-0 spurt to regain the lead, and the teams traded baskets and leads. 

The squads were knotted at 51-51 with 10 minutes remaining, but Cropper regained the Explorer lead for good with two free throws at the 9:58 mark. Though the Blackbirds kept it close and got within one point on three separate occasions, the Explorers went on a deciding 9-2 spurt to take an eight-point 71-63 lead with 18 seconds remaining. Two Blackbird free throws in the final seconds yielded the final 71-65 score.

The Explorers finished the game with a 46.8 percent shooting clip while limiting the Blackbirds to 35.9 percent. However, the team struggled at the free throw line, going just 9-for-17, while the Blackbirds converted 16 of 19 attempts at the charity stripe.

The Explorers return to action on Saturday in the finale of the LIU Turkey Classic. They tip off against Towson at 4:30 pm at the Steinberg Wellness Center on the campus of LIU Brooklyn.