Women's Basketball | January 16, 2022

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The La Salle women's basketball team is set to make the trip across town to Atlantic 10 and Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's to battle the Hawks in Hagan Arena in a nationally televised contest on Martin Luther King Junior Day. The game is set to air on CBS Sports Network at 12 p.m.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• La Salle enters the contest with an 8-6 record overall, 1-1 in the Atlantic 10 and 1-1 in the Big 5.
• The Explorers take the short trip over to City Ave after a single-game week taking on Dayton in Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 12. The Explorers found themselves in foul trouble, with three leading scorers reaching the limit in the game. La Salle took an early three-point lead that Dayton quickly closed in on during the first quarter, leading for the remainder of the game and taking the 65-57 victory over the Explorers.
• Kayla Spruill leads La Salle in scoring averaging 14.7 points per game on 44.3% shooting from the field, 42.6% from deep and 90.6% from the line. She currently leads the Atlantic 10 in free throw percentage, sinking 48 of her 53 attempts from the charity stripe in 14 games.
• Amy Jacobs continued to play a crucial role for La Salle in its most recent contest. Jacobs was the leading scorer on the night with 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting and 2-of-6 from deep. It was the second-consecutive and fourth total double-digit game for the junior from Australia this season.
• Sister Claire Jacobs is averaging double-digit scoring this season with 11.4 points per game. She went a perfect 6-for-6 from the line against the Flyers. Claire Jacobs is nearing the 1,000-point milestone in her career. She has 972 career-points and is just 20 points shy of 1,000. The junior reached the 100-point mark this season following her 23-point effort against St. John's.
• Junior Gabby Crawford is averaging 13.4 points and 6.3 rebounds in three games this season.
• The Explorers three-point game was put to the challenge by the Flyers. La Salle shot just 20.7% from the long range marking just the third game this season where an opponent has outshot the Explorers from the 3-point range.
• La Salle has won the turnover battle in nine of its 14 contests this season and ranks second in the A-10 in turnover margin with 2.79.

 
SCOUTING THE HAWKS:

• The Hawks enter the contest with a 5-9 overall record, 1-1 in the Atlantic 10 and 2-1 in the Big 5.
• St. Joe's is fresh off a runaway victory, 74-54, over Richmond on Wednesday night. In the game, freshman Talya Brugler put together a 17-point and 13-rebound performance in the contest. Senior Lovin Marsicano led a group of four double-digit scorers with 18 points. Collectively, the squad shot a season-best 50.0% from the floor.
• As a group, SJU is averaging 60.6 points per game and holding its opponents to 61.4 points per game while shooting 40.7% from the floor, 33.1% from deep and 69.8% from the line.
• Seven Hawks are scoring at least 6.3 points per game this season.
• Graduate student Katie Jekot leads the Hawks in scoring (10.6), assists (4.3), assist to turnover ratio (2.15) and steals (2.1). Jekot has dropped at least 10 points in six of her last eight games.

 
SERIES HISTORY:

• Atlantic 10 and Big 5 rivals La Salle and Saint Joseph's face off for the first time in a year last playing back-to-back games in January of 2021. The Explorers, who trail in the all-time series 13-51, topped the Hawks in their largest margin of victory, 81-66, on Jan. 10, 2021. The win coming just two days after St. Joe's defeated La Salle by 29 points, 65-36, at Hagan Arena.
• La Salle is only 4-24 when playing St. Joe's on the road, with its last victory happening on Feb. 15, 2020.
• Back in 2021, the Explorers trailed for only the opening 17 seconds of the game before a 6-0 run set the pace for La Salle to take the lead and never look back. Claire Jacobs was the leading scorer in the game with 21 points while Molly Mascian­tonio and Jaye Haynes contributed seven points each.

 
SPECTATOR POLICY:

• All fans five years of age or older are required to show proof of vaccination to enter Hagan Arena. For further information, view Saint Joseph's spectator policy in more detail here.