PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The La Salle women's basketball team shot a season-high 44.6% from the field in its highest scoring game of the season to defeat Niagara 83-71 at home on Saturday afternoon.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• La Salle and Niagara traded points through the first couple minutes of play before a layup in the paint from Jordan Lewis at the 6:46 mark gave the Explores a lead they would not relinquish. La Salle ended the first frame with a 11-3 run to take a 10-point lead, 25-15, going into the second quarter.
• Niagara held a single-point scoring advantage over the Explorers in the second quarter, 23-22. A 10-2 run let the Purple Eagles cut the deficit to just six, but a career-first 3-pointer from Kenya Côté-Lysius at the 2:23 mark put the Explorers back up by nine.
• The Explorers saw their biggest lead of the game, 17 points, in the third quarter. La Salle held the advantage outshooting Niagara 40.0% to 17.6% from the field and 66.7% to 14.3% from the three-point range.
• The Purple Eagles held 16-13 advantage in the final frame, but never came closer than 10 points. The Explorers 13 points in the final frame pushed them to their highest-scoring game of the season with 83 total points.

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Lewis led the scoring effort for La Salle with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and 4-of-5 from the line.
• Kayla Spruill and Claire Jacobs recorded double-digit scoring efforts combining for 30 total points, 15 apiece.
• Jaye Haynes and Christina Kline pulled down a team-high seven boards each. Kline also set a new season-high in points with eight. 
• La Salle out-rebounded Niagara 47-40, but the Purple Eagles won the turnover battle turning the ball over just 20 times to the Explorers' 27.
• Collectively, La Salle shot 44.6% from the field, 32.3% from deep and 78.9% from the line.

 
GAME NOTES:

• La Salle's shot its highest field goal percentage of the season, 44.6%.
• Freshman Côté-Lysius saw her first collegiate 3-point field goal.
• Jordan Lewis' 16 points mark a season-high for the junior and the first time she has reached double-digits scoring this season. She also topped her career-high field goals made with six.
• Haynes' and Kline's seven rebounds each breaks both their previous career-highs.
• Senior Erin Morgan recorded her first minutes of the season. 
• La Salle remains unbeaten in the series against Niagara, 9-0, while head coach Mountain MacGillivray records the first victory against the Purple Eagles under his tenure.  

 
UP NEXT:

• La Salle hosts Lafayette at home on Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 6 p.m.