Women's Basketball | March 1, 2023

WILMINGTON, Del. – The eighth-seeded La Salle women's basketball team will open up competition at the Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Tournament in the second-round against eighth-seeded George Mason on Thursday, Mar. 2 at 11 a.m. The contest will take place at CHASE Fieldhouse.
 
SCOUTING THE EXPLORERS:

• The La Salle women's basketball team enters the tournament as the eighth seed recording an 8-7 mark in Atlantic 10 play this season. This is the third-straight year that the Explorers have earned a first-round bye.
• A win for the Explorers will put them the quarterfinals for the first time since the 2021 tournament where La Salle faced Dayton getting knocked out of competition with the 79-70 loss.
• The Explorers ended the season with an overall record of 17-13 marking the first time since the 1995-96 and 1996-97 seasons that La Salle has recorded back-to-back seasons with 16 or more wins. It also marks the first time since those two seasons that the Explorers have recorded back-to-back winning marks in A-10 play.
• La Salle ended the regular season with a victory over VCU to snap a two-game skid. The Explorers were led by senior Claire Jacobs with 19 points to mark her 20^th game in double-digits this season and third-straight. She leads the scoring efforts for La Salle averaging 12.6 points per game ranking 15^th in the A-10.
• Kayla Spruill ranks second on the team and 18^th in the A-10 in scoring averaging 12.2 points per game. The graduate student earned a spot on the league's All-Conference Third Team this season. The honor makes her the only Explorer in program history to have earned three-straight end of season conference awards, as well as the only player to have landed on all three teams in her career. She leads the program in three-point shooting with 218 career threes breaking the program record, previously set at 208, earlier this season.
• Mia Jacobs earned a spot on the conference's All-Rookie Team. She has become just the eighth player in program history to be given the honor. She previously earned one A-10 Rookie of the Week nod this season following a double-double performance against Saint Joseph's. Jacobs is the first Explorers to be named to the All-Rookie Team since her sister Claire Jacobs earned the honor following her freshman campaign (2019-20). She ranks third on the team in scoring averaging 9.4 points per game. She also leads the rebounding efforts with 5.4 boards per game. The freshman ranks fifth in the league and second on the team in free throw percentage shooting 82.4% from the line.
• Molly Masciantonio continues to rank first in the nation in assist to turnover ratio with a mark of 4.71. The point guard has recorded 18/25 games with one or zero turnovers this season.

SCOUTING THE PATRIOTS:

• George Mason is looking for a win to advance to the quarterfinal for just the third time since joining the A-10 conference in 2013-14. The Patriots appeared in the quarterfinals in 2015-16 at the ninth seed and in 2017-18 as the fourth seed.
• The Patriots ended the season winning three of their last four home games for 11 total wins, the most in EagleBank Arena since the 2017-18 team who recorded a 17-2 mark at home.
• George Mason ended the regular season with the fourth-best scoring defense in the league allowing 61.9 points per game.
• Mason ranks fourth in rebounding margin (+2.9) and offensive rebounds (13.6).
• Junior Taylor Jameson finished the regular season averaging a team-best 11.8 points per game ranking 22^nd in the conference.
• Senior Nalani Kaysia is averaging a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game, the most from a Patriot since Jacy Bolton averaged 9.2 in 2018-19.
• The Patriots come into the conference with their own strong point guard in Paula Suarez who has tallied 90 assists this season for an average of 3.1 per game ranking 15^th in the A-10. She has the 12^th-best assist/turnover ratio in the conference at 1.2.

SERIES HISTORY:

• This will be the first time the Explorers and Patriots have ever come face-to-face in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. It will also mark the first neutral site game between the two teams.
• The Explorers hold an 11-4 edge over George Mason in the all-time series having won the last six-straight games.
• The Patriots visited the Explorers earlier this season suffering a seven-point loss to La Salle improving the Explorers record at home in the overall series to 7-2.