PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball team erased an early deficit to earn their third straight win with a 68-61 defeat of the Fairfield Stags on Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.
 
The Explorers trailed by as many as 13 points in the 2^nd quarter before a 10-0 run gave La Salle a 32-31 lead with 48 second to play in the first half. The score was tied five different times after the break before the Explorers used a 5-0 run late in the 4^th quarter to take control of the game.
 
"Winning these close games is huge, it prepares us for conference play," said head coach Jeff Williams. "Now we know that we can pull it out down the stretch. That we can make not just offensive plays, but we can get defensive stops, because that's what it comes down to."
 
Jasmine Alston tallied a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double to go with a game-high seven assists. Junior Amy Griffin finished with a game-high 22 points, including 12 in the 4^th quarter to help La Salle to their sixth win in seven games.  
 
"Amy Griffin has made big shots when we've needed her to make big shots," added Williams. "Jasmine Alston has been running the offense and we got a big lift from Micahya Owens today, she was huge for us."
 
Owens finished with 14 points, her fourth game scoring in double figures this season. The Explorers were 10-for-12 from the foul line in the 4^th quarter, including 6-for-6 over the final 1:06.
 
Senior Lisa Mintzer played a season-high 15 minutes, and had all three of her blocks in the second half. The Stags hit 9-of-24 shots (37.5%) from the field after the break compared to 14-of-27 (51.9%) in the opening half.
 
"Lisa Mintzer came in and gave us a spark defensively in the second half, we couldn't stop their inside scoring," added Williams. "She came in and did a tremendous job defensively."
 
The Explorers are off for final exams until a December 21 matchup with Delaware State at Tom Gola Arena.