PHILADELPHIA - A 58.1 percent shooting effort after halftime led to 50 second-half points as the La Salle women's basketball squad came from behind to defeat Fairfield 73-59 at Tom Gola Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Micahya Owens drained 15 of her team-high 17 points and Khristin Lee scored all 10 of her points after the break to lead the charge. Lee added seven rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal to her stat line.

Alicia Cropper recorded a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while adding two assists and a block. Indigo Dickens added the second double-figure scoring output of her career in as many games, hitting 10 points including eight in the second half.

The Explorers once again proved that assists are one of the key stat lines in their wins as they dished out 14 helpers. They are now 8-1 when hitting the 10-assist mark, compared to 0-3 when dishing out less than 10.

The win also extends the best nonconference record in the Jeff Williams era, as the Explorers move to 8-4. 

Fairfield's Casey Smith led all scorers with 24 points on 12-for-19 shooting, and Kristin Schatzlein added 13 for the Stags (2-9).

The Explorers struggled at the outset as they shot just 29.0 percent (9-31) in the first half and Fairfield took a 28-23 lead into the break. The Stags extended that lead to seven with a jumper out of the gate, but the Explorers hit their stride and outscored the visitors 14-6 over the next 5:35 to go up 37-36. That marked their first lead since 13:53 of the first half.

Kelsey Carey answered with a jumper to put the Stags back on top, 38-37, but that was the last lead the visitors would hold. A Lee free throw at 13:02 knotted the score at 38-38, and she converted a fastbreak layup under a minute later to put the Explorers on top for good. Those Lee points sparked an 8-0 Explorer run to put the squad up 45-37, and they extended their lead to as many as 10 at 52-42 with 8:56 to go. 

The Stags clawed back within four twice, the latest a 60-56 score at 3:17, but the Explorers scored 13 of the game's final 16 points for the final 73-59 tally.

La Salle finished with a 44.3 percent shooting clip and went 38.5 percent from long range (5-13). The Explorers improve to 38.1 percent from three on the season; they entered today's game ranked second in the A-10 in three-point shooting.

The Explorers also won the battle of the boards, 41-33, and went 14-for-18 from the free throw line.

The squad returns to action on Tuesday when UMBC visits Tom Gola Arena at 2 pm. The game is the first of a doubleheader with the men's team, which plays Penn at 7 pm.