January 10, 2021 –
It was the latter game of the weekend series between the La Salle Explorers and the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. Each team took home a win on their home court. Saint Joe’s won Friday 65 – 36. It was a bit jarring to the Explorers, but they put it behind them and won the national television game 81 – 66.
The offensive output was the largest under Explorers Coach Mountain MacGillivray. Their total points scored in the first and third quarter was the largest for the team who team came out with purpose.
“That was a hard one on Friday,” said Hill. “We all didn’t forget it. Coming in today we had a chip on our shoulder and came in with a mindset that this was a revenge game. We’re not going 0 – 2 against them. We came out and played hard and ended up with a win today.”
Claire Jacobs led La Salle scoring 21 points making 7 of 11 from the field and 1 of 2 from beyond the arc. Kate Hill accounted for a career-high 15 points and a game-high 7 assists. When the shots fell early is gave the team a lift on offense.
“It definitely is and is exciting when we take good shots and they go in,”
Jacobs said. “In the last game we were taking good shots but they weren’t falling. It helped motivate us more when we saw the shots falling.”
Of the 11 Explorers who saw game action 10 of the players scored. Deja King broke double figures getting 10 points, and three scored 7 points each. La Salle had 16 assists on 29 baskets. Having the offense coming from different sources was a key factor.
“That’s huge and were not just running plays for Claire,” said MacGillivray. “The ball finds the open player. We need the open players to knock down the open shots. And we did it at 46% today. We will win some game if we continue to do that.”
It was a different feeling for the Hawks. Jaden Walker scored 14 points along with Gabby Smalls, who also pulled down 14 rebounds for a double-double. As a team Saint Joe’s shot 35.4% from the floor and 20% from three-point land (4 of 20).
Saint Joseph’s (3 – 1, 1 – 1) suffered their first loss of the season, while La Salle improves to 4 – 6, 1 – 3 in the Atlantic 10. Drexel is the next opponent for LSU. Hill and Jacobs are from Canada and Australia, and they are becoming familiar with the intensity of Philadelphia basketball.
“The rivalry here in Philadelphia is real,” Hill said. “To get a win and not go 0 – 2, that means a lot for us and our program, We’re glad we came out on top.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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