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Women's Basketball Continues At Rhode Island on Sunday

Jeff Williams

Women's Basketball | January 16, 2015

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle women's basketball team wraps up its New England visit on Sunday when the Explorers take on a surging Rhode Island team at the Ryan Center at 2pm. The contest is the first of a home-and-home series, with the Rams paying a visit to Tom Gola Arena on Feb. 19. 

La Salle Explorers (10-7, 1-3 Atlantic 10) at Rhode Island Rams (10-6, 2-2 Atlantic 10)
Sunday, Jan. 18 | 2:00 PM | Ryan Center
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Game Notes
La Salle | Rhode Island

Video Stream
Sunday's contest at Rhode Island will be streamed on the A-10 Digital Network.

All-Time Series vs. Rams
The Explorers have dominated the all-time series with the Rams, winning 24 of the 26 all-time contests dating back to 1985. The last time Rhode Island won was on Jan. 27, 2009, in Kingston, and the Explorers have taken six straight since then. The two squads were schedule partners last year as well, with the Explorers taking a 50-44 overtime win at the Ryan Center in the Atlantic 10 opener and a 50-42 win at Gola on Feb. 8. Both contests last year were defensive battles with both squads shooting under 30 percent in last year's series. Between the two games, the squads combined to go 67 for 237 (28.3%) from the field, 12 of 50 (24.0%) from three and 40 of 71 (56.3%) from the free throw line. La Salle has held Rhode Island under 50 points in each of the last five contests.

Scouting the Explorers
La Salle looks to snap a three-game skid, which came at the hands of Fordham, George Mason and Massachusetts. The Explorers rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit in Amherst on Thursday night, using a 51.4 percent effort from the field after the break to draw within one before ultimately falling 71-68. The squad was cold in the first half, shooting just 9-for-45 (20.0%). Siobhan Beslow drained a career-high 16 points in the contest, and Jasmine Alston recorded a double-double with 11 rebounds and 10 points along with six steals and five assists.

The Explorers have done a lot of the little things right this season, including the limiting of turnovers and grabbing offensive boards for second chance opportunities. The squad leads the A-10 in turnover margin with a whopping +6.75 margin over opponents. The Explorers have forced A-10 opponents into 18 miscues while limiting themselves to just 11.3, including a season-low five at Massachusetts. They also rank first in league games in assist-to-turnover ratio, with 1.3 assists for every turnover. They have also crashed the offensive glass to rank second in the league with 18.3 offensive boards per game in A-10 games.

They look to put together the offensive and defensive pieces, however, as they are hitting just 35.7 percent against A-10 opponents while giving up 45.2 percent of shot attempts.

Micahya Owens continues to lead the team in scoring with 14.3 points per game overall to rank 11th in the A-10. Alicia Cropper is second with 13.5 ppg but has stepped up her game to 15.5 in league play. Beslow is up to 8.1 ppg to rank third, and leads the team with 6.4 rpg.

Cropper is currently on a 1,000 point watch as the redshirt senior is up to 952 for her career. She needs 48 more points to hit the 1,000-point milestone, and at her current season clip of 13.5, should hit that mark during the Explorers' road contest at VCU on Jan. 31.

Beslow ranks second in the Atlantic 10 with 4.5 offensive boards per game against league opponents, and is nearing the top 10 in program history in that category. She needs 27 more to crack the all-time list.

Alston returned to the top of the Atlantic 10 rankings with 2.6 steals per game after her six-steal effort at UMass. She is also in the top 10 individually in assist-to-turnover ratio, dishing out 1.9 helpers to every turnover against league opponents.

Scouting the Rams
Rhode Island is one of the league's up-and-coming squads this year behind first-year head coach Daynia La Force, as the Rams have raced out to a 10-5 start and 2-1 in the A-10 after a 7-23 overall record last year. The Rams were tripped up by first-place George Washington on Thursday, falling 59-49, but held the Colonials to 17.3 points under their average against A-10 opponents. Rookie sensation Charise Wilson led the Rams with 15 points; Symone Bullard added 10; and Tayra Melendez pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds. 

Rhode Island owns a 62-61 win over Duquesne in the A-10 opener and also defeated Davidson 71-62. The Rams' other loss was a 64-48 decision at VCU.

Four-time Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week Charise Wilson leds the Rams with 16.6 ppg overall while pulling down 5.1 rebounds and a team-best 2.8 assists per game. Bullard and Megan Straumann add 8.3 ppg each and Melendez is just behind with 8.2 ppg. 

Samantha Tabakman leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per outing. 

The Rams shoot 39.1 percent overall as a team, and limit opponents to 35.6 percent. They have struggled from three, hitting just 28.3 percent but have negated that disadvantage by holding opponents to just 27.6 percent from long range. They average 58.7 ppg and hold opponents to 58.5.

Next Up
The Explorers return home next week for a two-game set at Tom Gola Arena. They host Saint Louis on Wednesday (1/21) at 7pm and GW on Saturday (1/24) at 1pm.
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Players Mentioned

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

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