RICHMOND, Va. – Career highs were flying around tonight as the La Salle women's basketball squad defeated Davidson 74-63 in first round action of the Atlantic 10 Championship at the Richmond Coliseum. The Explorers (15-15) advance to second round action against sixth-seeded Rhode Island on Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
Micahya Owens set a new career mark with a game-high 24 points, which included a career-best six made three-pointers on nine attempts.
 
Siobhan Beslow recorded a double-double of 14 points and a career-best 13 rebounds. Eight of those were on the offensive glass, another career mark that bettered her previous best of six offensive rebounds set on four different occasions. Beslow made good on a personal goal to crack La Salle's top 10 in career o-boards; she needed just three coming into the game, and had six by halftime. Two more would move her up to ninth all-time.
 
Ashanti Freeland had a breakout game as the rookie had a near double-double with career bests in both points (9) and rebounds (10). She added two blocked shots and a steal.
 
Alicia Cropper added 11 points along with five assists, four rebounds and a steal.
 
Davidson's Hannah Early led the Wildcats (5-25) with 23 points. Mackenzie Latt added 16 as the Wildcats' season ended.

La Salle jumped out to a 23-13 lead midway through the first half, but the Wildcats chipped away at that 10-point gap to eventually knot the score at 30-30 with 1:38 until halftime. Owens sank one of her treys with just under a minute until the break to give the Explorers a 33-30 halftime lead.

Latt scored the opening bucket of the second stanza to draw the Wildcats within one, but the Explorers scored 12 of the game's next 15 points to regain a double-digit lead at 45-35. Davidson got back within seven but that was the closest the Explorers let the Wildcats for the remainder of the game. With the score 49-42, the Explorers responded with a 7-0 spurt to push their lead to 14 and they never relinquished the double-digit advantage after that. They led by as many as 17 late in the half, and the Wildcats scored the final six points of the game for the final 11-point margin.

The Explorers went 43.1 percent from the field, and 52.9 percent from three (9-17) fueled by Owens' 6-for-9 outing. The one weak spot was at the free throw line as they went just 9-for-16. Davidson shot 44.6 percent overall and 41.2 percent from three (7-17), and 6-for-9 from the charity stripe.

The Explorers dominated the boards 43-30, and crushed it on the offensive glass 18-8 thanks to Beslow's eight o-boards and four from Freeland.

The squad returns to action on Thursday at 7 p.m. as the Explorers take on sixth-seeded Rhode Island in a second round matchup. 

Notes

- A total of 13 individual career highs were tied or broken on Wednesday night, including;

- Micahya Owens: Points (24), field goals made (9 - tie), three-pointers made (6);

- Siobhan Beslow: Rebounds (13), offensive rebounds (8);

- Ashanti Freeland: Points (9), rebounds (10), offensive rebounds (4 - tie), defensive rebounds (6), field goals made (3 - tie), free throws made (3), free throws attempted (4), blocks (2 - tie)

- The Explorers added three more blocked shots to their single-season program record which now stands at 127. The team blew past the previous record of 119, set by the 1985-86 team.

- Two more offensive rebounds would push Beslow into ninth all-time on the career list; she currently has 191 career offensive boards.

- Two more steals would push Jasmine Alston into seventh all-time in single-season steals; she currently has 70 on the year.

- The Explorers are now 11-2 this season when leading or tied at the half; they are also now 13-2 when leading with 5:00 remaining.

- The Explorers dished out 15 assists tonight, their ninth game this year with at least 15 helpers. They have recorded double-digit assists in 25 of their 30 games this year, compared to just 14 of their 30 last season.