Women's Basketball | January 3, 2019

PHILADELPHIA – With the dawning of a new year, comes the start of Atlantic 10 play for the La Salle women's basketball team (3-11), which heads to Dayton (5-6) on Saturday. The conference bout will tip at 1 p.m., airing on ESPN+.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• After dropping the first eight games of the season, La Salle has won three of its last six games. Most recently the Explorers dropped a Big 5 matchup against Temple, 47-75. In the game, sophomore Deja King led the team with 10 points.
• At least one Explorer has scored a career high in points in five of the last six games.
• Over the last nine games, La Salle has posted a +34 turnover margin, with only three negative outings. Over that span, the team has collected 98 steals - good enough for 10.8 per contest.
• With its success in the turnover department, La Salle ranks 4th in the conference with a +1.2 turnover margin, which coincides with the team's skill at grabbing steals. The Explorers are 1st in the A-10 in both steals (139) and steals per game (9.9). The 139 steals has La Salle ranked 31st nationally.
• The Explorers' game against Dayton marks the fifth of six consecutive games away from Tom Gola Arena. La Salle wraps up the stretch at VCU on Tuesday.
• After scoring double figures in six of the last seven games, King leads the team with 8.9 points/game. Classmate Michelle Nicholls is the team's next leading scorer with 8.1 points per outing.

SCOUTING THE FLYERS:

• Dayton enters Saturday with a 5-6 overall record and a top 100 RPI at 72. The Flyers have losses to nationally ranked Maryland and South Carolina early in the season. Most recently, they split a pair of games in the West Palm Beach Tournament against Virginia Tech (L, 57-69) and Georgia Tech (W, 85-66).
• Defensively, the Flyers are second in the conference in both field goal percentage (35.9%) and three-point field goal percentage (25.1%). Both of these rank among the best in the nation, with FG% at 54^th and 3FG% at 20^th overall.
• On the offensive end, three different scorers are averaging double figures this season as the team scores 65.0 points per contest. Jayia Scaife tops the squad with 15.5 ppg, with Lauren Cannatelli (12.8 ppg) and Julia Chandler (10.3 ppg) behind her.
• Only seven players have started a game this season, with four starting all 11 games.

THE SERIES:

• All 36 games between La Salle and Dayton were conference matchups, with the first pair coming as members of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) in 1993, with the following 34 bouts as members of the Atlantic 10.
• The Flyers hold the overall advantage 20-16, including the most recent matchup on New Year's Eve last season. Dayton took the game, 76-47.
• The Explorers' last win came with a 54-51 score on Dec. 4, 2016 in Ohio.