PHILADELPHIA -  Alicia Cropper drained 17 of her game-high 20 points in a second half that featured a 21-point swing as the La Salle women's basketball squad stormed back to take a 78-71 win over William & Mary at Tom Gola Arena on Saturday afternoon. The win was the sixth straight for the Explorers, who are now 6-2 heading into the finals break.
 
The Explorers faced a 45-31 halftime deficit, but exploded in the second half by outscoring the Tribe 47-26 after the break. They got hot for the second straight game from long range, going 6-for-10  from beyond the arc in the second period to propel the comeback. This effort piggybacks a 71.4 percent outing in the win over Robert Morris on Wednesday.
 
Micahya Owens added 15 points, including a perfect 7-for-7 at the free throw line. Jasmine Alston was one rebound shy of a double-double for the second straight game, scoring 11 points and pulling down a game-high nine rebounds. Rookie Amy Griffin went 5-for-9 en route to a career high 12 points.
 
Khristin Lee put together one of her most well-rounded games of the season, chipping in six points, pulling down six rebounds, dishing out a game-high five assists and grabbing a game-high five steals in 31 minutes of play.
 
The Explorers crashed the boards, outrebounding the Tribe 44-32 including a 16-7 stranglehold on the offensive glass. The squad put up 22 second-chance points on those 16 offensive boards.
 
Jazmen Boone led the Tribe (5-3) with 19 points. The Explorers limited three-point sharpshooter Marlena Tremba to 1-for-8 from long range, but she went 8-for-9 at the free throw line en route to 17 points. Kyla Kerstetter added 11 off the bench.

The Explorers trailed by three at 15-12 just under seven minutes into the game, but the Tribe used an 11-2 run to open up a 26-14 advantage just over three minutes later. They battled back within seven on two separate occasions but the Tribe answered with another 11-2 run to open up their largest lead of the game at 45-27 with 1:35 until halftime. Griffin scored back-to-back baskets to close out the half, but the Explorers still trailed by 14 as William & Mary took a 45-31 lead into the break. Boone drained 14 of her team-high 19 points in the first half for the Tribe.

The Explorers were held without a three-point field goal in the first stanza, a stark contrast to a 6-for-6 showing in the first half just one game ago. The first half also featured 15 Explorer turnovers.

The 15-minute break was what the doctor ordered. Cropper grabbed a steal on the Tribe's first possession of the half and fed a pass to Owens for the first score of the period. She was fouled on the play and converted the and-one. A Siobhan Beslow rebound on the other end of the court got the ball back in Explorer hands, and Cropper sank a beautiful three to get the deficit down to single digits at 45-37. 

The offensive onslaught continued, as the Explorers capped off what proved to be a 14-1 run over the first 3:07 of the half to get within one at 46-45. Kerstetter pushed the visitors back to three, and the teams traded baskets until Lee grabbed a rebound of a missed Kerstetter shot. She got the ball to Cropper, who sprinted down the court and sank another trey to knot the game at 50-all with 15:42 on the clock. 

Tremba sank the second of two free throw attempts to regain a one-point Tribe lead, but another Lee steal turned into a Cropper fastbreak layup to give the Explorers their first lead since 17:58 of the first half. 

The Explorer momentum continued as they pushed the lead to as many as eight thanks to yet another Cropper three for a 61-53 lead at 11:16.

The Tribe responded with an 8-0 run to tie the game at 61-61 with 9:14 to go, and the squads were again tied at 64 at 7:42. Owens drained a layup at 7:27, which proved to be the winning basket. The Explorer never tied or relinquished the lead after that.

The Tribe had one more run at the Blue & Gold. La Salle led 74-66 with 2:39 to go, and the Tribe scored five straight points to get within 74-71 with exactly a minute left. That was the closest the visitors got as Owens was fouled twice in the final minute and sank all four free throw attempts. 

The Explorers shot over 40 percent again today, going 43.9 percent along with a 42.9 percent showing from three. They also sank 14 of 21 free throw attempts. The Tribe shot 45.2 percent overall, but their three-point weapon was neutralized. They came in shooting 40.8 percent from long range on the season, and were limited to just 18.2 percent (2-for-11). They also hit 13 for 17 from the charity stripe.

The Explorers return to action next Sunday (Dec. 14) at 7:30 pm when they head to the Pavilion for a Big 5 matchup with Villanova.