Skip To Main Content

La Salle University Athletics

scoreboard

scoreboard

Women's Basketball Hosts William & Mary On Saturday

Ebony Wells

Women's Basketball | December 5, 2014

PHILADELPHIA - Winner of five straight, the La Salle women's basketball team looks to make it six in a row when the Explorers host a surging William & Mary squad on Saturday at 1 pm in Tom Gola Arena.

All fans are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to Saturday's game. The team will deliver all donations to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

La Salle Explorers (5-2) at William & Mary (5-2)
Saturday, Dec. 6 | 1:00 PM | Tom Gola Arena
Live Stats | Live Video | Live Audio | Live Tweets @ExplorerGameDay

Follow the Explorers on: Twitter | Instagram

Game Notes
La Salle | William & Mary

Video Stream
The contest between La Salle and William & Mary will be streamed live on GoExplorers.tv.

All-Time Series
La Salle and William & Mary met for the first time in program history last season, with the Explorers taking a 73-59 win in Williamsburg. Graduated Explorer Leeza Burdgess led the team with 20 points, Micahya Owens added 19 and Siobhan Beslow scored 11 in one of the Explorers' best shooting performances of last season. The team went 57.1 percent from the field against the Tribe. Returning WM players Jazmen Boone and Kyla Kerstetter led the Tribe with 24 and 10 points, respectively, last season.

Scouting the Explorers
The Explorers are fresh off of their fifth straight win, a 75-61 decision over preseason NEC favorite Robert Morris in Moon Township on Wednesday night. The squad was unstoppable in the first half, draining all six three-point attempts to build a 45-27 halftime lead. The Explorers shot 71.4 percent from long range on the night, their best three-point performance since a 60 percent showing against Massachusetts in 2010.

Alicia Cropper led the attack, draining six of her eight three-point attempts en route to a game-high 22 points. Owens added four treys of her own and scored 13 points total. Beslow recorded a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Jasmine Alston had a near double-double of 10 points and nine boards.

With the hot three-point shooting at Robert Morris on Wednesday, the Explorers catapulted up to second place in the A-10 stat rankings. They are now hitting 38.9 percent of their long range shots on the season, a stat that also ranks 26th out of 343 teams in Division I. Owens leads with a 42.5 percent clip, ranking fifth in the A-10 and in the top 100 nationally.

The Explorers are also first in the A-10 and near the top nationally by limiting opponents to just 34.3 percent shooting overall. That figure puts them 35th in Division I.

Individually, Cropper leads the offense with 15.0 ppg and has drained 14.6 since returning from injury. Owens is scoring 14.4 ppg and is fourth in the Atlantic 10 with 2.4 made three-pointers per game. Siobhan Beslow is up to 8.3 ppg to round out the top three scorers, and is leading the team with 6.9 rebounds per game and 1.3 blocks per game.

Jasmine Alston is tied for ninth nationally and ranks top in the A-10 with 3.6 steals per game. She also dishes out a team-high 4.0 assists per outing, while chipping in 7.3 ppg and 4.3 rpg. The guard is also tied for sixth in the league with Beslow with 1.1 blocked shots per game.

The Explorers are averaging 62.1 points and limiting opponents to 60.0. They are also tied for second in the league with 5.6 blocks per game.

Scouting the Tribe
William & Mary enters the weekend with a 5-2 record and winners of three straight, and are just three wins shy of their win total from last season. They went 8-21 last year in Ed Swanson's first year at the helm, but have won big already this year. Their current win streak includes a 56-48 victory over VCU, as well as a 90-55 crushing of Longwood and 81-71 win over Radford.

Sophomore Marlena Tremba, a Preseason All-CAA Second Team pick, leads the team with 18.0 ppg to help propel the Tribe to its turnaround. She drained 24 at Radford and 19 against Longwood. The three-point sharpshooter has hit 41.7 percent (20 of 48) of her long range attempts, and is also dangerous at the free throw line with an 80.0 percent (24-30) clip.

Jazmen Boone is second on the squad in both scoring and rebounding, with 13.1 ppg and 7.1 rpg. She is dishing out 3.0 assists per game and has hit 78.8 percent (26-33) of her free throw attempts. Alexandra Masaquel rounds out the top three scorers with 7.9 ppg and leads the Tribe with 8.4 rpg.

Senior Kyla Kerstetter returned to the lineup after missing the first four games due to injury. She averaged 10.7 ppg last season, and has chipped in 4.7 ppg in three games since her return.

The Tribe is averaging 70.9 ppg while limiting opponents to 64.9. They shoot 45.2 percent as a team, including 40.8 percent from three.

They were slated to finish eighth in the 10-team CAA in the preseason coaches' poll.

Next Up
The Explorers take a week off for finals before returning to action on Sunday, Dec. 14th, at Villanova. Tipoff against the Wildcats is set for 7:30 pm.
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Leeza Burdgess

#42 Leeza Burdgess

F/C
6' 4"
Graduate Student
Jasmine Alston

#11 Jasmine Alston

G
5' 9"
Sophomore
Siobhan Beslow

#2 Siobhan Beslow

F
5' 11"
Redshirt Junior
Alicia Cropper

#14 Alicia Cropper

G
5' 7"
Redshirt Senior
Micahya Owens

#34 Micahya Owens

F
5' 11"
Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Leeza Burdgess

#42 Leeza Burdgess

6' 4"
Graduate Student
F/C
Jasmine Alston

#11 Jasmine Alston

5' 9"
Sophomore
G
Siobhan Beslow

#2 Siobhan Beslow

5' 11"
Redshirt Junior
F
Alicia Cropper

#14 Alicia Cropper

5' 7"
Redshirt Senior
G
Micahya Owens

#34 Micahya Owens

5' 11"
Sophomore
F