Jan. 12, 2008

Box Score

RICHMOND, VA - Despite a 20-point effort from Carlene Hightower, the La Salle University Women's Basketball team dropped its first Atlantic 10 Conference game of the season to Richmond, 62-48, at the Robins Center Saturday afternoon.

For Hightower, it is her seventh 20-point or more effort of the season, 23rd of her career, and she added a game-high four steals. Margaret Elderton added 12 points and three assists, while Hightower, Elderton and Melanie Gibbons each had five rebounds.

The Explorers jumped out to a five-point lead early as they hit seven of their first nine shots in the game's first six minutes. Elderton scored on a pair of driving lay-ups and then Morgan Robertson's second basket of the half gave La Salle a 12-7 lead 14:30 in, then Gibbons answered a Johanna McKnight three with her own basket.

However, as the case was last year when Richmond hit 13 three pointers in a 70-48 victory over La Salle, the Spiders outside shot started to fall. They hit five threes in a nine-minute stretch to turn their deficit into a 14-point advantage, as the Explorers went cold from the floor, missing eight straight shots and turning the ball over four times.

Danielle Bell hit a pair of threes, Kelley Flynn scored on a pair of lay-ups, and Kara Powell scored five points in a 17-0 run by the Spiders, capped a McKnight basket at the 4:51 mark made it 30-16. Elderton ended the Explorer drought with a driving lay-up, but Richmond's Brittani Shells answered with another three-point basket.

In the first, Richmond (8-8, 1-0 A-10) hit six threes, opposed to La Salle's zero - the last time they did not hit a three in a game was in last season's meeting with the Spiders, which ended a streak of 121 straight games with one - and the Explorers did not get to the foul line either as Richmond took a 15-point lead into the locker rooms.

That lead was cut to nine just three minutes in as Hightower scored the first six points out of the break, first on two made free throws, then on a pair of driving lay-ups. After Richmond scored five straight to build its lead back to 14, Jamie Walsh scored five of her own - which included La Salle's only three of the game - to cut it back to nine.

The lead was still at nine (49-40) after Elderton knocked down to foul shots, but back-to-back steals and fast-break lay-ups by McKnight pushed the Spider lead back to 13 (53-40). But again La Salle would get it back to nine thanks to two made free throws by Hightower and Elderton, and it was again nine after a pair of Robertson foul shots.

Shells, who scored a game-high 23 points, knocked down a three with 2:57 left in the game to push the Spider lead back to double figures and then converted four foul shots in the last minute to secure their victory.

La Salle (8-8, 0-1 A-10) will host Dayton in its next game, Wednesday, Jan. 16 at 7 PM in Tom Gola Arena.