Nov. 17, 2007

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle University Women's Basketball team was held without a field goal for more than 14 minutes as the Drexel Dragons outscored the Explorers 26-6 to take control of the game, then held on for a 57-50 victory at the Daskalakis Athletic Center Saturday afternoon in non-conference action.

Carlene Hightower scored a game-high 30 points and added a career-high tying 14 rebounds for her 11th career double-double, while Gabriela Marginean led the Dragons to the victory with 28 points and 13 rebounds.

La Salle opened up an early seven-point lead thanks for Hightower and Morgan Robertson, who combined to score the first 13 Explorer points. Hightower hit a pair of foul shots and a three to give La Salle a 5-0 lead, then Robertson's second bucket of the game with 10:12 left in the first gave the Explorers a 13-6 advantage.

Andrea Peterson, who added 13 points for the Dragons, hit a three which was answered by a Jamie Walsh three with 9:26 left before the intermission, and again La Salle led by seven at 16-9.

From that point, until Walsh hit a jumper with 14:41 left in the game, La Salle managed just six made free throws, while shooting 0-of-15 from the field, 0-of-8 from behind the arc, and committed seven turnovers in the 14:45 span.

Drexel (1-2) did not make the most of the La Salle scoring drought until the second half, as they closed out the first just 6-of-15 from the floor, but did take a three-point lead into the locker room at 25-22.  The Dragons hit their first five shots out of the break, including back-to-back fast-break lay-ups to open its largest lead of the game at 35-22.

Despite the cold shooting, La Salle was able to get the deficit back to single digits at seven thanks to Alyse Hoover and Hightower. Hoover hit a pair of free throws, then knocked down a three. Hightower made two foul shots, then hit a jumper, and when Hoover hit a driving 10-footer in the lane with 6:41 remaining, the score was 42-35.

It appeared Hoover cut the deficit to four, but her three-point attempt rolled out of the basket and that is when Marginean took over. She was the only Dragon to score in a six-minute stretch, but it was half of her total (14), including 5-of-6 from the foul in the game's final two minutes.

The Explorers shot just 30.6% for the game (15-49) and 15.0% from behind the arc (3-20), but did hit 17-of-19 from the foul line to keep the game within reach. With her 30-point effort, Hightower is just four points shy of 1,000.

La Salle (1-2) will now return home for two more games at Tom Gola Arena, hosting Albany on Monday, Nov. 19 at 7 PM, then Central Florida on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 1 PM.