CHICAGO, Ill. – The La Salle women's basketball team took a 21-0 run through the end of the second quarter and into the start of the third that built up a lead Loyola Chicago couldn't overcome with the Explorers walking away with the 16-point victory, 67-51, on Sunday afternoon.
 
La Salle improves to 13-8 overall and 4-2 in Atlantic 10 play while Loyola falls to 6-13 on the season and 1-5 in league play.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Ramblers took a 7-0 lead to start before the threes began to fly for the Explorers with Kayla Spruill, Claire Jacobs and Charity Shears all converting from the long range to tie it 9-9 with 4:56 left to play. Claire Jacobs stepped up to the foul line for a chance at a two-point lead shooting 1-of-2 leaving room for a Loyola layup to put the Ramblers back on top 13-10. Mia Jacobs took her turn from the top of the key to tie it once again, 13-13. The Ramblers managed one more bucket to take a two-point advantage out of the first quarter, 15-13.
• The lead changed four times with La Salle only able to pull ahead by no more than two before the Ramblers mounted a quick 4-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the frame, 24-20, into the media timeout. Loyola added four more to its lead, 28-20, before a Charity Shears put-back jumper started the Explorers on a 10-0 run topped off with a pair of threes from Spruill and Shear to end the frame and take a two-point lead into the half.
• La Salle held the Ramblers scoreless through the first 4:34 of the third quarter building up an 11-0 run to take a 41-28 lead. Foul trouble for the Explorers put Loyola at the line sinking 3-of-4 to close the gap to 10, 43-31, with 5:04 remaining. La Salle allowed a single jumper from the Ramblers who tacked on six more points in the frame with a 4-of-4 effort from the foul line while the Explorers added on nine points of its own for a 15-point advantage at the end of the third frame, 52-37.  
• The Explorers pulled ahead by its largest margin, 16, early in the fourth. The Ramblers responded with a 7-0 spurt to close the gap to nine, 55-46, before the media timeout. La Salle kept its momentum rolling with the 12-5 advantage through the rest of the game to take a 16-point victory over Loyola, 67-51.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• La Salle was led by veteran Kayla Spruill with 15 points shooting 5-of-11 from the field, 3-of-5 from the long range and 2-of-2 from the line.
• The Jacobs duo of Mia and Claire followed behind with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Both sisters converted two balls from downtown while Mia shot 83.3% (5-of-6) from the field and Claire 44.4% (4-of-9).
• Masciantonio found herself back in double figures with 10 points shooting 3-of-6 from the field including 1-of-2 from three and 3-of-4 from the foul line. The point guard dished out six assists and committed just one turnover.
• Spruill was the team's leading rebounder with seven boards while Claire Jacobs followed in second pulling down five.
• La Salle held a +10 margin in rebounding pulling down 38 boards to the Ramblers 28.

GAME NOTES:

• La Salle improves to 2-1 in the all-time series against the Ramblers with both of the Explorers' victories coming when visiting Chicago.
• The Explorers have outrebounded their opponent in just seven games and is now 6-1 when pulling down more boards.
• La Salle is 4-0 when holding its opponents between 50-59 points.
• The Explorers have yet to concede a victory this season when leading at halftime winning all 10 games when taking an advantage into the half.
• This marks the first time La Salle has won four-straight since a 4-0 run in non-conference play earlier this season. This is also the first 4-0 run for the Explorers in A-10 play since finishing the regular 2021-22 season winning four-straight.
• At least three Explorers have reached double digits in 12 games this season. This marks the fifth A-10 game where three or more Explorers have hit double-figures.
• La Salle's 16-point margin of victory is its larges in the series against the Ramblers.
• Claire Jacobs has now hit 16 games in double-digits including the last four-straight contests for the Explorers, all of which have been victories.
• Spruill has now reached double-digits in 13 games. Her three 3-pointers put her four away from tying the all-time program record of 208 set by Jamie Walsh (2006-10).
• Masciantonio has now recorded four games in double digits and eight games with five or more assists. She has committed one or zero turnovers in nine games this season.

UP NEXT:

• La Salle gets a five-day break before returning to action in Tom Gola Arena in TruMark Financial Center to face St. Bonaventure on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2 p.m. The game, presented by Stout's Transportation, will be the Explorers' Pride game.