PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle women's basketball team (11-15, 5-8 A-10) narrowly fell to VCU (15-11, 10-3 A-10) on Wednesday night, 67-61. Senior Shalina Miller reset the program's single season block record after her first three deflections of the game.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• La Salle opened up on a 11-4 run, forcing an early VCU timeout. The Rams responded by working their way back into the contest, eventually tying things at 15-15 with 1:29 remaining. Junior Haleigh Hill drilled a three, countered by a VCU layup to give La Salle an 18-17 advantage after one.
• The teams battled back and forth throughout the second with neither team finding much separating. The Explorers were up 26-23 before the Rams embarked on a 6-0 run afterwards to give themselves a three-point advantage. Freshman Jordon Lewis scored four of La Salle's final five points of the half as the Blue & Gold tied the game at 31-31—its first tie at halftime this season.
• Similar to the second period, not a whole lot separated the sides in the third. For the first nine minutes of the frame, the largest lead was two. With the game knotted at 41-41 approaching the one-minute mark, VCU quickly scored five unanswered. Free throws from rookie Claire Jacobs made it a three-point deficit after three.
• The Rams capitalized at the beginning of the final period with a 10-4 run that forced a La Salle timeout. Down 56-47, back-to-back and-ones cut the deficit to three and a jumper by junior Deja King made it 56-55. VCU pushed its lead to four, but Spruill erased the deficit with a pair of layups at the 3:16 mark. The Rams countered by claiming eight of the final 10 points to seal the victory.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• C. Jacobs paced the Explorers with 19 points.
• Sophomore Kayla Spruill scored 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and corralled 12 rebounds for the double-double. She added two steals, one assists, and one block to her totals.
• Miller ended the game with six blocks.
• The Explorers dominated the paint as they scored 36 points compared to VCU's 22.
• VCU went 33-of-41 from the free throw line, compared to La Salle's 12-of-17.
• Both teams finished the game with 42 rebounds.

GAME NOTES:

• Miller now hold the single season mark with 68 deflections, four more than her record last year.
• Spruill registered 10+ points for the 16th time this season, including 12 of the last 14 games.
• It was C. Jacobs' 17th game in double-figures and seventh straight.
• Spruill's 12 rebounds tied her career high and gave her three double-doubles on the season.

UP NEXT
La Salle hits the road for a Saturday afternoon game against Rhode Island. The 1 p.m. tip will air live on ESPN+.