PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Sophomores
Michelle Nicholls (21 pts.) and
Deja King (16 pts.) each scored career highs to lead La Salle women's basketball team (2-9) to a 74-56 victory over Northern Kentucky (1-7) on Wednesday night. Collectively, the Explorers scored a season high in points.
This is the first time La Salle has had a 20-point scorer in back-to-back games since February 4 and 7 of last season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- La Salle opened the game on a 13-4 run up until the media timeout at 4:43. Over the run, King led the team with six points, going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. In the remainder of quarter, the teams traded the final 10 points, scoring five apiece.
- In the first 3:07 of the second frame, La Salle took an 8-4 run. The rest of the stanza was evenly matched with La Salle outscoring the Norse, 9-8, to give the team a 35-21 lead at the break.
- In the third period, the Norse and Explorers were nearly even through the first five minutes, with NKU outscoring La Salle, 12-11. It was the Explorers, however, who widened their lead in the final five minutes on an 11-4 spurt. Collectively in the quarter, both Nicholls and junior Shalina Miller scored six points each.
- It was the Norse who capitalized in the final frame, outscoring La Salle, 19-17. Despite the differential, Nicholls and King added five points apiece.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
- Joining Nicholls and King in double figure scoring totals was Miller with an even 10 points, while senior Jeryn Reese neared the 10-point plateau with eight points.
- As a whole, the squad had its best point output in a given half, scoring 39 points in the second part of the game.
- Collectively, the Explorers had their best game shooting, setting a season best in field goal percentage at 43.1% (25-of-58), including an impressive 41.7% (5-of-12) from long range. This marks the third straight game that La Salle has hit 40% or better from the floor and second straight game over 40% from three-point range.
- La Salle has won the turnover battle in four of the last five games after finishing Wednesday's game with the team's best margin (+13) of the season.
- On the glass, Reese recorded a career best 10 boards.
- Freshman Erin Morgan hit the first field goal of her career.
UP NEXT:
La Salle will return to action for day two of the Friar Holiday Classic as it takes on Pepperdine in a 7 p.m. matchup on Thursday.