Powerful Owls prove to be too much for Explorers

By Anthony Bonagura
Collegian Staff
February 14, 2007

The Big 5 Championship was on the line when the La Salle women’s basketball team traveled down Broad Street to meet with their neighborhood rivals, the Temple Owls, on Monday.

After falling to Xavier and Dayton, the Explorers (16-10, 4-7 A-10, 2-2 Big 5) could not find an answer for the Owls’ frontcourt and lost the game, 68-55. The win marked Temple’s third straight Big Five Title in a row, and granted head coach Dawn Staley her 14th consecutive City Series victory.

Despite starting the longest conference road trip of the season on a three-game losing streak, senior Crista Ricketts’ (16.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg) 18 points in the loss gave her 229 total Big 5 career points, making her fifth all-time. She is now one point ahead of Temple alum and 2006 WNBA All-Star Candice Dupree. In addition, Ricketts finished with five rebounds and a career-high-tying five assists.

The Explorers struggled on the boards and were out-rebounded 40-22. Temple senior forward Kamesha Hairston (20.1 ppg, 9.2 rpg), who is 15th in the nation in scoring, finished the day with 17 points and a team high 16 rebounds. Six foot, two inch center Lady Comfort (13.5 ppg, 6.6 rpg) chipped in with 10 points and three rebounds. Comfort shares in the national ranking spotlight with Hairston, placing 33rd in field goal percentage, shooting 54.8 percent.

In the last 10 games, Hairston and Comfort have accounted for 51.9 percent of the Owls’ total points. Temple’s giant, aggressive frontcourt gave them the edge down low, as they outscored La Salle 38-28 in the paint and dominated them in second chance points, 18-3.

“Our team has become a very good rebounding team,” said Temple head coach and three-time Olympic gold medalist Dawn Staley. “One of the keys for us to get this win was to crush them on the boards. We knew we had the height to take up some room in the paint and get some extra possessions, and I thought we had some great efforts on a lot of people’s parts to make that happen.”

Temple (20-5, 10-0 A-10, 4-0 Big 5) played physical defense in the first half, nearly causing La Salle to take the shot clock down to one almost every possession. With the Explorers desperately needing points, sophomore Tara Lapetina (3.6 apg, 40 percent 3-pt fg) hit a three at the top of the key. This cut the deficit to single digits, 35-26, as the first half was winding down. Lapetina completed the game shooting 2-for-2 from behind the arc, with eight points and three assists. The teams headed to the locker rooms with the score 37-30 in favor of Temple at halftime.

The Explorers started strong in the second half. Junior Carlene Hightower forced the defense to zone in on her driving baseline and then kicked it to a wide open Ricketts in the paint for two. Melanie Gibbons (4.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg), who finished with 10 points and four boards, scored with 17:59 remaining in the game to close the gap to 39-36. However, that was the closest the Explorers would get for the rest of the game.

Temple later went on a 10-2 run to take over. La Salle was successful from the field in the first half, shooting 53 percent, but they cooled off a little in the second half, only shooting 48 percent.

“I think you give credit to Temple’s defense,” La Salle head coach Tom Lochner said. “Carlene was able to get some good looks earlier, and I think their defense, one-on-one and team concept, really was able to take us out of what we wanted to do.”

Hightower (17.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg) finished the night with 12 points, three rebounds and three assists. Hightower (445 points) and Ricketts (418 points) have become the third La Salle duo in history to both record 400 points in the same season.

Overall, the Explorers have reached the 16-win plateau for the first time in 10 years, passing the 1996-97 team with 15 wins. Since that season, four previous teams were all tied with 15 wins. This season, the Explorers climbed the hill to 16 victories, and anticipate a few more as they continue on.

The Explorers hope to win their ninth road game of the season when they travel to Fordham on Saturday, to finish their final road trip. A victory will equal the most road wins since 1991-92, when that team recorded nine as well. With three games remaining in the regular season, the Explorers hope to finish on a good note on which they can move into the A-10 Tournament.

bonaguraa1@lasalle.edu