PHILADELPHIA – La Salle women's basketball came up short against a tough Davidson team 50-69 in the conference home-opener. Davidson is now 12-1 on the year, and La Salle falls to 3-10, 0-2 in conference play.
 
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HOW IT HAPPENED:

• La Salle got scoring early from starter Jolene Armendariz. The graduate student sunk a deep three and then followed it up with a pull-up jumper to get La Salle up 5-4 in the beginning stages of the game.
• Davidson stormed back, however, going on a 20-7 run the rest of the way in the first. That run was fueled by Ellie Sutphin who finished the quarter with six points.
• The Explorers found themselves down 31-13 early in the second quarter, but continued to chip away at the Wildcat lead. Contributions from Molly Masciantonio, Makayla Miller, and Nicole Melious all helped.
• A half-court shot attempt from Masciantonio came 0.1 seconds from counting at the end of the half, but the Explorers managed to get the Wildcat lead within nine and entered the break down 26-35.
• The third quarter was an action-packed ten minutes driven by Makayla Miller. The graduate transfer took over the game using a different offensive approach by La Salle. The guard slowed the pace down, and found winnable match ups throughout.
• Down 39-32, Miller scored on two straight possessions, one of which being a three-point and one conversion. At the 5:35 mark in the third a pull-up jump shot by Miller got the Explorers within two and forced Davidson to call a timeout to regroup.
• That timeout proved to be crucial in slowing down the La Salle comeback. Suzi-Rose Deegan scored her tenth point of the game to close out the third and get Davidson up 52-39.
• The Wildcats held La Salle scoreless for the first five minutes of the fourth before Molly Masciantonio drilled a three, assisted by Tiara Bolden.
• Masciantonio would go on to score the next eight points for La Salle, but it ultimately would not be enough in the end.

 
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

• Masciantonio scored a season-high 17 points in tonight's contest against one of the conference's top ranked defenses.
• Miller scored 12 points, her most since scoring 15 against Virginia early this season.
• The La Salle defense held the high-powered Davidson offense to under 70 points for only the fifth time this season.
• Tonight, marked the best three-point percentage for the Explorers (.429) since opening night against Coppin State.
• Masciantonio totaled five steals against Davidson, a season-high for any Explorer this season.

 
UP NEXT:

• The Explorers will be back in action Saturday January, 6^th at 2:00 p.m. when they welcome the Fordham Rams to Tom Gola Arena
• The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be followed using the Live Stats link.