Women's Basketball | November 12, 2015

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball team tips off its 2015-16 campaign on Friday night when the Explorers visit the Fairfield Stags.  Tipoff from Alumni Hall is set for 7 pm.

La Salle Explorers (0-0) at Fairfield Stags (0-0)
Friday, November 13 | 7 PM | Alumni Hall
Live Stats | Live Stream | Live Tweets @GoExplorers 

All-Time Series
The Explorers lead the all-time series 14-12, which dates back to 1983. La Salle defeated the Stags 73-59 at home last season in the midst of a four-game winning streak. 

Scouting the Explorers
Head Coach Jeff Williams returns eight letterwinners from last season's squad that advanced to the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament, including preseason All-Atlantic 10 Third Team selection Micahya Owens.  

Owens led the Big 5 in scoring last season with 13.8 points per game to earn All-Big 5 Second Team honors, and has racked up 839 career points in two seasons. The junior scored in double figures in all but seven games as a sophomore and averaged 3.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

Atlantic 10 All-Defensive pick Jasmine Alston is back for her junior season after leading the A-10 with 2.3 steals per game last year. The Long Island City, N.Y. native finished 10th in the league with 3.3 assists per game while chipping in 6.6 ppg and 5.1 rpg.  

Redshirt senior Ebony Wells started 27 games last season, adding 4.6 ppg while pulling down 2.6 rpg in 16.6 minutes per game in 2014-15. 

Amy Griffin saw action in all 31 games as a freshman last season and will look to crack the starting lineup this season. The sophomore averaged 7.8 points and 3.1 rebounds per game in 22.1 minutes per game last season.   

La Salle welcomes three newcomers Adreana Miller, Amber Wilks and Anemone Scheel. Miller was the Skyland Conference Player of the Year and a Second Team All-State selection last year at New Jersey's Franklin High School; Wilks played in Ohio's East-West All-Star Game and was an All-Conference selection as a senior at Cincinnati's Walnut Hills High school; Scheel led powerhouse New Hope Christian Academy (N.C.) to the 2015 National Independent School Athletic Association national title after playing for U16, U18 and U20 national teams in her native Denmark. 

Scouting the Stags 
Fairfield was picked to win the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) this season for the first time since 2003 by the league's 11 head coaches.  The Stags return the bulk of the team that reached the MAAC Semifinals last season.

Redshirt sophomore Casey Smith was selected to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team after averaging 11.9 points per game on the way to All-MAAC Third Team and the All-MAAC Rookie nods.  Senior Kristin Schatzlein, also an All-MAAC Third Team pick last year, was named to the conference's Second Team. Schatzlein hit a team-high 66 three-pointers last season and ranks sixth all-time at Fairfield in with 156 career treys. 

Redshirt sophomore Samantha Cooper started 30 games last season and led the team in rebounding (6.7 rpg) while adding 7.8 points per game. Juniors Kelsey Carey and Kristine Miller will help round out the frontcourt this season after seeing significant increases in minutes in 2014-2015. The pair combined for 13.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last year coming mostly off the bench. 

Khadidiatou Diouf, Casey Foley, and Kendra Landy are the three newcomers this year, and each is expected to earn minutes this winter.

Next Up
The Explorers welcome Big 5 rival Temple to Tom Gola for their home opener on Wednesday night at 7 pm.