Women's Basketball | November 8, 2017
PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball team will look to build upon the most successful season in 10 years on Friday evening when they open the 2017-18 campaign on the road at Lafayette.
La Salle Explorers (0-0) at Lafayette Leopards (0-0)
Friday, November 10 | 7 PM | Kirby Sports Center
Live Statistics | Live Video | Live Tweets @GoExplorers
Scouting the Explorers
-Reigning A-10 Coach of the Year
Jeff Williams enters his eighth season at the helm of the La Salle women's basketball program in 2017-18. The Explorers won 17 games a season ago, the most since 2006-07.
-Atlantic 10 Player of the Year candidate
Amy Griffin enters the season after leading the conference in scoring for the past two seasons. With 1,306 career points, the senior has an opportunity to surpass Jennifer Cole (1,875 points, 1989-93) as the program's all-time leading scorer.
-La Salle set a new program record with 180 blocks last season, crushing the previous mark of 144 (2015-16). Griffin swatted 54 shots while
Ashanti Freeland rejected a career-high 33 shots and
Shalina Miller logged 20 blocks.
-Sharpshooter
Adreana Miller returns for her junior season with an eye on cracking La Salle's top 10 list for career three-point field goals. The junior has hit 102 triples in two seasons, and needs just 21 to eclipse Tara Lapetina (2005-10) for 10
th all-time.
-The Explorers have another perimeter threat in
Anemone Scheel, who connected on 22 attempts from beyond the arc as a sophomore in 2016-17.
-La Salle returns a depth of frontcourt experience, including Freeland and
Shalina Miller.
Amber Wilks returns after redshirting last season while
Sofilia Ngwafang averaged 3.3 points and 4.5 rebounds as a true freshman in 2016-17.
-Six Explorers will take the court for the first time at La Salle this season.
Shaquana Edwards redshirted last season while
Michelle Nicholls enrolled at La Salle in January but didn't compete in 2017.
Jeryn Reese is a junior college transfer with two years of eligibility remaining while three true freshman will suit up:
Rayshel Brown,
Deja King and
Jasmine White.
Scouting the Leopards
-Lafayette had a down year in 2016-17, finishing the season with a 4-28 record and a 2-16 mark in Patriot League play. The Leopards were able to win two of their final four games, including a 58-54 victory at Holy Cross in the opening round of the Patriot League Tournament.
-Head coach Kia Damon enters her first season at Lafayette and is the program's second head coach in three seasons.
-Lafayette lost two starters to graduation in Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby and Olivia Gumbs. Ottewill-Soulsby ended her career ranked 11th in blocks, while Gumbs paced the team in scoring with 10.5 points per game last season.
-Anna Ptasinski hit 46 three's a year ago on the way to a 6.9 points per game average, which is tops among returners. The senior currently ranks seventh all-time with 111 career three-pointers.
-Fellow senior Sammy Stipa was the only player to start all 32 games last season, and scored 6.3 points per game.
