Women's Basketball | December 8, 2020

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball team (2-1) heads to Villanova (4-0) on Wednesday for the Explorers' first Big 5 game of the season. Tipoff is slated for 4 p.m. inside Finneran Pavilion with the game streaming on the Wildcats' website.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• La Salle enters Wednesday's game riding a two-game win streak.
• The Blue & Gold are averaging 68.7 points per outing and shooting 34.7% from the floor, 31.6% from three-point land, and 78.4% from the line.
• La Salle is led by a trio of double-digit scorers in Kayla Spruill, Claire Jacobs, and Molly Masciantonio.
• After a career performance in the win over Saint Francis (Pa.), Spruill is averaging team highs in points (14.0) and rebounds (8.0) per game. The Baltimore, Md. native is connecting on 44.1% (15-of-34) of her shots and 50% (9-of-18) from long range.
• C. Jacobs is scoring 12.5 points per outing and is shooting 52.9% (9-of-17) from the floor and 44.4% (4-of-9) from three-point territory.
• Masciantonio rounds out the trio with 10.3 ppg on 36.4% (12-of-33) from the field and 37.5% (6-of-16) from long range.
• Through games played Sunday, La Salle leads the Atlantic 10 in three pointers per game (10.3), three-pointers made (31), three-pointers attempted (98), and turnover margin (+7). The Explorers rank in the top 25 nationally in all of those categories.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS:

• Villanova is 4-0 overall and 1-0 in Big East play under first-year head coach Denise Dillon.
• The Wildcats have wins over Rider, Quinnipiac, Temple, and St. John's to open the season and are defeating opponents by an average of 15.8 points.
• Collectively, the team is scoring 74.3 points on average and shooting 47.6% from the floor, 29.0% from three-point range, and 68.2% from the line.
• Nova's Maddy Siegrist in the reigning Big 5 Player of the Week for two-straight weeks. She his scoring 23.8 points and corralling 11.8 rebounds on average, while hitting 56.5% from the floor.
• Sarah Mortensen (13.5) and Brianna Herlihy (13.3) round out the double-digit scoring leaders for the Wildcats. Both are also averaging the team's second most rebounds per outing at 6.8.

SERIES HISTORY:

• Villanova holds the all-time record in the series 40-9, including the last 11 straight.
• The last Explorers' victory came in an overtime thriller, 67-62, back in 2008 on the road.
• All-time, La Salle is 4-17 against the Wildcats on the road.