Women's Basketball | January 14, 2020
PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball team (6-10, 0-3 A-10) heads northeast to take on the UMass Minutewomen (13-3, 3-0 A-10) in a Wednesday night showdown. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. with the game airing live on ESPN+.
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:
- La Salle enters play after dropping its last nine games, dating back to a loss at Navy on Dec. 1. On Saturday, the Blue & Gold fell to Duquesne, 82-56.
- November was pleasant for the Explorers as they had their best start in 13 seasons at 6-1. The start included three comeback victories, including two of 16+ against Harvard and Penn State. La Salle's six wins match last season's total.
- Senior Shalina Miller is one block shy of tying the program record of 151 by Amy Griffin '18. Miller is pacing the team with 37 blocks and 2.3 blocks per game. She ranks third in the A-10 in both categories and 23rd and 28th in the nation, respectively.
- Freshman Claire Jacobs is the Explorers leading scorer with 11.1 points per game. The Aussie is shooting 34.8% from the floor, including 33.3% from long range. She has recorded double digit point totals in eight games this season with 15+ in six outings.
- Sophomore Kayla Spruill (9.1 ppg) and freshmen Jordon Lewis (7.9 ppg), Amy Jacobs (7.4 ppg) round out La Salle's top four scorers. The quartet are accounting for 58.0% of the team's points this season.
- Junior Kate Hill has established herself as one of the best ball handlers in the country. The Rutgers transfer is leading the Atlantic 10 in assist to turnover ratio at 3.00 and ranks 8th nationally. Since being inserted into the starting lineup against Villanova, Hill has 37 assists to five turnovers for an impressive 7.4 ratio and 7.4 assists per game.
- La Salle is averaging 61.3 points offensively and is allowing opponents 68.5 ppg.
SCOUTING THE MINUTEWOMEN:
- UMass is riding a program best 10 game winning streak and currently sits 13-3 overall and 3-0 in league play under fourth year head coach Tory Verdi.
- Four Minutewomen aver averaging 11.1 points per game or better, led by Hailey Leidel (17.6 ppg) and Sam Breen (14.8 ppg).
- Breen is also pacing the team with 8.6 rebounds per game in her five games played this season.
- Maeve Donnelly has a conference leading 47 blocks on the season and is second on the team is rebounding at 6.6 per outing.
- The Minutewomen are scoring 71.2 points on average with a +12.9 margin as its opponents drain 58.3.
THE SERIES:
- UMass hold the all-time record 19-13 in a series that dates back to 1985.
- The teams have met as conference opponents in the Atlantic 10 since the Explorers joined in 1995-96.
