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Pink Out! Women's Basketball Hosts URI On Breast Cancer Awareness Night

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Women's Basketball | February 19, 2015

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle women's basketball team is back in action on Thursday night, hosting Rhode Island in the second of this year's home-and-home series at 7 p.m. The Explorers will be donning pink gear for breast cancer awareness as the game is the designated Play-4-Kay Pink Week game of the season. Ribbons will be on sale with the proceeds benefitting the Kay Yow Foundation in honor of the legendary NC State coach who lost her battle with the disease. 

La Salle Explorers (12-13, 3-9 Atlantic 10) vs. Rhode Island Rams (15-9, 7-5 Atlantic 10)
Thursday, Feb. 19 | 7:00 PM | Tom Gola Arena
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Game Notes
La Salle | Rhode Island

Video Stream
Thursday's contest vs. Rhode Island will be streamed on GoExplorers.TV.

All-Time Series vs. Rams
La Salle dominates the 30-year-old series with Rhode Island, winning 24 of the 27 contests in the series history. The two teams have played defensive battles lately, with neither team cracking the 60-point mark in the last three contests and two of the last three going to overtime. 

Last Time Out vs. Rams
Rhode Island used a 5-for-6 showing at the free throw line in overtime to eke out the 55-54 win over the La Salle women's basketball squad on Sunday, Jan. 18, at the Ryan Center. Rookie Amy Griffin led the Explorers with 13 points and pulled down six rebounds. Alicia Cropper was the other Explorer in double figures with 10 points along with six rebounds, six steals and three assists. URI's Sydney Lewis paced all players with a game-high 14 points and game-high 16 rebounds. Brianna Thomas added 10 points, while the Explorers limited the Rams' leading scorer Charise Wilson to six points.

Scouting the Explorers
After getting out to a 10-4 start, the Explorers have dropped nine of their last 11 games. They look to snap a current two-game skid after falling to Duquesne 72-66 last Wednesday and to Richmond 72-60 on Saturday. Micahya Owens led the Explorers with 17 points against the Dukes, helping the team rally from 13-down to tie the game in the second half before Duquesne pulled away. Siobhan Beslow scored a team-high 13 points on 6-for-10 shooting at Richmond in front of her hometown Virginia crowd.

Owens continues to lead the Explorers in scoring with 13.6 ppg, while chippin gin 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists. Cropper is at 12.9 ppg, and her rebounding and assist numbers have remained steady at 4.9 rpg and 2.3 apg. Beslow went over the 8.0 ppg mark, averaging 8.1 on the season along with a team-best 5.8 rpg. The redshirt junior has proved one of the most reliable shooters on the team as she hits 51.8 percent of her field goal attempts against Atlantic 10 opponents. She ranks third in the league in field goal percentage, only behind Kim Pierre-Louis of UMass and Amadea Szomosi of Duquesne.

On the defensive end, Jasmine Alston maintains her lead in the Atlantic 10 with 2.4 steals per game overall. She is grabbing 2.2 steals against league opponents to rank third when counting just A-10 games. She is also the team's leading ball-handler as the point guard leads the Explorers and ranks in the league top 10 with 3.5 helpers per game.

The Explorers are averaging 62.8 ppg as a team while giving up 65.5 ppg, numbers which adjust to 62.1 ppg for and 67.8 ppg against when counting only league games. The Explorers are shooting 37.5 percent overall while opponents have been hitting just over 40 percent. 

Turnovers remain a strong point for the Explorers, who commit 15.1 per game and force opponents into 17.3.

Scouting the Rams
Rhode Island is in the midst of a breakout season behind first-year head coach Daynia La-Force. La-Force has guided her squad to a 15-9 record as the Rams have clinched their first winning season in a decade. The Rams are currently 7-5 in the A-10, just a year after going 2-14 in the league and 7-23 overall. Their breakout was evident in the last two games as they knocked off two straight 2014 NCAA teams, beating Saint Joseph's 63-61 in overtime and defeating reigning Atlantic 10 champion Fordham 71-56.

A huge part of their success has been the play of rookie Charise Wilson, the second-leading freshman scorer in the country. Wilson is averaging 16.5 ppg, and leads the Rams with 2.5 apg. She also grabs 2.0 steals per outing as well. 

Although Wilson is the lone Ram averaging double figures, the squad features a balanced attack with five more players averaging better than seven points per game. Megan Straumann hits 8.3 per game. Symone Bullard and Samantha Tabakman each chip in 8.1 ppg, while Tayra Melendez and Sydney Lewis add 7.8 and 7.4, respectively.

Melendez and Lewis lead on the boards, pulling down 6.4 and 6.1 rebounds per game, respectively.

The Rams are not a high-scoring team as they average just 57.8 ppg as a team while yielding 59.0 to opponents. They hit 37.9 percent of their shots, but limit opponents to just 36.6 percent.

Next Up
The Explorers face a tough road swing over the next week, starting at Dayton at 2 p.m. on Sunday. They then head to St. Bonaventure next Wednesday for a 7 p.m. contest, before returning home next weekend for the regular season finale against Saint Joseph's on March 1. 
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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
Amy Griffin

#21 Amy Griffin

G/F
6' 1"
Freshman

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
Amy Griffin

#21 Amy Griffin

6' 1"
Freshman
G/F