RICHMOND, Va. – Despite seven crucial buckets from beyond the arc from Claire Jacobs and Charity Shears, a 22-point third quarter for Richmond proved too difficult for the La Salle women's basketball team to overcome, falling to the Spiders 67-51.
 
La Salle falls to 14-11 on the season and 5-5 in Atlantic 10 play while the Spiders improve to 14-8 overall and 4-5 in the conference.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Richmond took an early lead over the Explorers pulling ahead by as many as five just two and half minutes into the game. La Salle attempted to close the gap, bringing it back within two thanks to a combo Charity Shears three-pointer and Kayla Spruill layup in the paint. A 7-1 advantage for the Spiders through the rest of the frame put them in a seven-point lead at the end of the quarter, 18-11.
• The Spiders held La Salle scoreless through the first five minutes of the frame into the media timeout. The Explorers came out of the break with momentum putting together a 9-2 run to bring the deficit back down to two points, 22-20, with 1:59 left. Richmond took a 4-0 edge into the half to put La Salle behind by six, 26-20.
• Richmond tried to run away with the score to start the second half pulling ahead by as many as eight twice, but the threes began to fall for the Explorers with a crucial Claire Jacobs long ball cutting the deficit back down to two, 37-35, with 4:08 left in the third quarter. The Explorers couldn't slow the Spiders offense through the rest of the frame taking an 11-point deficit into the final 10 minutes, 48-37.
• Claire Jacobs put up eight of the Explorers 14 points thanks to two made free throws and two buckets from beyond the arc, but the Spiders 59% shooting performance from the field was too much for La Salle to overcome dropping the contest 67-51.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Claire Jacobs led the scoring efforts for La Salle with 18 points on 6-of-18 shooting including 2-of-8 from deep and the only two buckets from the free throw line for the Explorers in the game.
• Charity Shears also recorded double-digits for La Salle with 11 points from 4-of-15 shooting including 3-of-12 from the long range.
• Kayla Spruill and Molly Masciantonio shared the battle at the boards with six rebounds each.
• Amy Jacobs dished out a team-high four assists.
• La Salle capitalized on more points off turnovers, 20-16. The Explorers won the turnover battle 12-17.

GAME NOTES:

• La Salle has now suffered two consecutive losses in the series with Richmond and have yet to record a victory in the Robbins Center under the tenure of head coach Mountain MacGillivray.
• Claire Jacobs' double-digit game breaks her drought and marks her 18^th game in double-digits this season. Her four threes mark the fifth game this year where she has sunk at least four buckets from the long range.
• Shears double-digit performance marks her first since recording 10 points against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 28. She now has nine games with 10-plus points this season and six games with three or more 3-point buckets.
• Spruill's two threes put her just a single 3-point bucket from tying the program's all-time 3-pointers made record of 208 set by Jamie Walsh (2006-10).
• Masciantonio has now totaled 13 games this season with one or zero turnovers. 

UP NEXT:

• La Salle returns home this Sunday, Feb. 12 to host Duquesne at 2 p.m. in Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center.