Women's Basketball | February 11, 2023

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The La Salle women's basketball team looks to come out of a three-game rut when it hosts Duquesne in Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2 p.m. The contest will stream live on ESPN+.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• La Salle enters the contest at 14-11 on the season and 5-5 in Atlantic 10 play making a win on Sunday critical to remain in the over .500 category in conference competition.
• The Explorers most recently dropped a road victory to Richmond on Wednesday, Feb. 8. La Salle entered the contest already on a two-game skid finally reaching the 50-point mark for the first time in two games against the Spiders.
• The Spiders took an early lead over La Salle with strong shooting efforts from Claire Jacobs and Charity Shears helping to cut the deficit to just two points a number of times until Richmond put up a 22-point third quarter that was too difficult for the Explorers to bounce back from, dropping the contest 67-51.
• La Salle has now recorded its lowest scoring games in its last three losses this season making the Explorers 0-3 in the month of February.
• Claire Jacobs led the scoring for the Explorers recording 18 points on 6-of-18 shooting including 4-of-8 from deep and the only two buckets from the free throw line for La Salle in the game. The double-digit performance broke her drought and marked her 18^th game in double figures this season. Her four threes tied her season high for the fifth time.
• Charity Shears was the only other Explorer in double figures against the Spiders. The graduate student knocked down three buckets from the long range while adding another from the field for 11 points. The double-digit performance marked her ninth game with 10-plus and her first since Jan. 28 where she recorded 10 points against St. Bonaventure. She has also reached six games this season with three or more 3-point buckets.
• Kayla Spruill had a low-scoring game with eight points but led the battle at the board with six rebounds. She serves at the Explorers' second leading rebounder averaging 5.0 boards per game. The graduate student knocked down two 3-pointers in the game putting her just one away from tying the program's all-time 3-pointers made record of 208 set by Jamie Walsh (2006-10).
• Molly Masciantonio continues to play a crucial role at point guard for the Explorer. The graduate student ranks seventh in the A-10 in assists averaging 4.3 points per game and has recorded 13 games this season with one or zero turnovers. Her protection and distribution of the ball is unmatched as she ranks first in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (4.25).

SCOUTING THE DUKES:

• Duquesne enters the contest at 15-9 on the season and 5-6 in conference play most recently coming out of a two-game slump with a victory at home against VCU on Feb. 4. The Dukes are coming to Philadelphia off a week-long break.
• Tess Myers leads the Dukes offense averaging 12.5 points per game, as well as the team's 3-point shooting efforts averaging 7.3 threes per contest. Myers ranks fifth nationally with 73 three-pointers and ninth in three-pointers per game with 3.04.
• Megan McConnell leads Duquesne in just about every other major category averaging 9.6 rebounds per game, 5.3 assists per game and 2,4 steals per game. The sophomore guard is just one of two players in Division I with multiple triple-doubles this season and was the fastest to record two triple-doubles. She is also just the second player in A-10 history to record multiple triple-doubles in the same season.
• In the Dukes' last time out against VCU, Naelle Bernard led the team with 17 points and a career-high eight rebounds. McConnell totaled 16 points and seven rebounds while Ayanna Townsend poured in 15 points.

SERIES HISTORY:

• La Salle is just two wins away from tying the all-time series. The Explorers currently trail in the series 21-23.
• The Explorers are 10-10 when hosting the Dukes in Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center. La Salle is on a single-game win streak in the series recording a one-point, 67-66, victory over the Dukes in the final home game of the 2021-22 season.
• Claire Jacobs led the charge for the Explorers in the game sinking the buzzer-beating basket to put the Explorers on top in the teams' last meeting.