Women's Basketball | February 11, 2015
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle women's basketball team returns to action on Wednesday night with a home tilt against Duquesne starting at 7 p.m. La Salle Explorers (12-11, 3-7 Atlantic 10) vs. Duquesne Dukes (15-8, 7-3 Atlantic 10)
Wednesday, Feb. 11 | 7:00 PM | Tom Gola Arena
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Game NotesLa Salle | DuquesneVideo StreamWednesday's contest vs. Duquesne will be streamed on GoExplorers.TV.All-Time Series vs. DukesLa Salle and Duquesne have met on the hardwood 33 times in the 32-year history of the series, with the Explorers leading 18-15. The Explorers snapped a Duquesne six-game win streak in the series last year with a 68-63 win at the A.J. Palumbo Center thanks to a 16-3 run to pull off the comeback win. Micahya Owens tied her career high with 23 points against the Dukes, and Jasmine Alston hit a then-career-high 16 points in the victory.Scouting the ExplorersAfter a mid-season six-game skid, the Explorers have now won two of their last three including a 71-69 last-second victory over Massachusetts this past Saturday. With the game knotted at 69-69, Alicia Cropper sank two free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining to lift the Explorers to the revenge win over the Minutewomen. Amy Griffin led all Explorers with 17 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal. Owens added 12 second-half points and Siobhan Beslow and Ebony Wells added 10 apiece.
The Explorer offense has been more balanced as of late, with four players now averaging better than seven points a game. Owens still leads the pack with 13.6 ppg, while Cropper is up to 13.2 after a 25-point output at Saint Joseph's a week ago. Beslow is up to 7.7 ppg and Griffin has improved to 7.4 ppg.As proven with her two under-pressure free throws against UMass, Cropper has been the free throw stalwart on the team, hitting 77.3 percent at the charity stripe. She also ranks among the A-10 leaders in three-point percentage and three-pointers made per game. Beslow has also been solid from the field, going 50.0 percent in her field goal attempts against league opponents.
Defensively, Beslow leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game. Alston is also one of the top defenders on the team, pulling down 4.9 rebounds and leading the Atlantic 10 with 2.4 steals per game overall. Cropper adds 5.0 rebounds per game as well.
The Explorers are averaging 62.8 ppg overall while yielding 65.0 to opponents. They hit 37.1 percent of their shots and pull down 39.8 boards per game.
Scouting the DukesDuquesne is coming off of a huge 83-47 win over VCU to mark the Dukes' eighth straight home win. Five Dukes scored in double figures, led by Amadea Szamosi's 15 points. Emilie Gronas, Olivia Bresnahan, Deva'Nyar Workman and April Robinson scored 13 each as well in the balanced offensive attack. The win clinched its eighth stragith regular-season winning record.
The Dukes' only home losses this season were at the hands of Princeton and Syracuse in the first two games of the season. They are 6-6 on the road.
Robinson, who is 21 points shy of hitting her 1,000th career point, leads the Dukes with 15.4 ppg while pulling down 4.2 rpg and dishing out a team-best 3.7 apg.
Workman and Szamosi also average double figures, scoring 11.4 ppg and 11.0 ppg respectively.
On the defensive side, Workman leads the squad with 6.8 boards per game. Szamosi and Jose-Ann Johnson pull down 6.3 per game.
As a team, the Dukes are among the highest-scoring offenses in the Atlantic 10. They average 71.0 ppg against league opponents to rank third in the A-10, while limiting opponents to just 59.8 ppg to rank fourth in that category. They hit 41.1 percent from the field, and also rank second in the league with a 35.9 percent clip from three-point range on the season. The balanced attack is evident as the team averages 16.1 assists per game. They also own a +7.6 rebounding margin (42.9 to 35.3) over opponents.Next UpThe Explorers take their second of three trips to Richmond in a one-month span as they play at the University of Richmond on Saturday, Feb. 14, with a 4 p.m. tip.
