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ST. LOUIS - The La Salle women's basketball squad jumped out to an 18-7 lead midway through the first half, but Saint Louis climbed back to defeat the Explorers 53-43 at Chaifetz Arena on Saturday evening.

Alicia Cropper led all scorers with 22 points and Micahya Owens added 12 for the Explorers (10-11, 5-4 Atlantic 10).

SLU's Desiree Ball led the home team with 13 points. Sadie Stipanovich added 11 off the bench and Jamesia Price chipped in 10. Denisha Womack pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds.

The outset of the game appeared to be all La Salle as Cropper started the game on fire. She drained five of her first seven attempts to put in 11 of the Explorers' 18 points in an early 18-7 run.

However, the Explorers got in foul trouble early, sending Saint Louis (8-13, 3-5 Atlantic 10) to the line 14 times to allow the Billikens to stay within striking distance. SLU outscored the Explorers 15-4 through the remainder of the first half to tie the game at 22-22 heading into halftime.

SLU took its first lead as Womack hit the first bucket of the second half before Arielle Ward swished a nice jumper to re-tie the game. The Explorers went back ahead when Owens made the front end of two free throws at 17:26, but that was the last lead the Explorers would have down the stretch.

Price sparked a 15-4 Billiken run to push the home team to a 10-point lead at 12:36 and the Explorers never got closer than seven after that.

Poor shooting hampered both squads with the Explorers going just 26.7 percent (16-60) and the Billikens shooting just 29.1 percent (16-55). La Salle also hit just 2-for-15 from three and limited the Billikens to a 1-for-11 outing from long range. The difference was in the free throws, as the Explorers were plagued with foul issues, being whistled for 26 to the Billikens' 19. The Billikens went 20-for-31 while the Explorers hit 9-of-16. Fourteen of the Explorers' free throw attempts were in the second half.

SLU also won the rebounding battle, 50-42.

The Explorers return to Philadelphia this week for back-to-back home games, starting with a Wednesday contest against George Mason at 7 p.m. They host Rhode Island on Saturday at 8:30 p.m., following the men's game against Saint Louis. Saturday will feature the annual Play-4-Kay pink game, and all fans are encouraged to wear pink to show their support for breast cancer awareness.