Feb. 10, 2008

Box Score

ST. LOUIS - La Salle built a comfortable lead in the early going and never looked back in a 61-42 Atlantic 10 Conference victory over Saint Louis at the Bauman-Eberhardt Center on Sunday.

Carlene Hightower scored a game-high 28 points for La Salle (10-14, 2-7 A-10), including 15 in the first half to help the Explorers craft a 30-15 cushion at intermission. Hightower netted seven points and Morgan Robertson had six of her 11 points in an outburst that put the visitors up 13-2 at the 15:36 mark.

Saint Louis (9-15, 4-5 A-10) scored the next five points to make it a 13-7 game, only to see La Salle go on a 7-0 run to claim a 20-7 advantage with 8:09 remaining. Lauren Woods, who led SLU with 10 points, had a conventional 3-point play and a 3-point basket on consecutive possessions to whittle the La Salle lead to 20-13, but the Explorers concluded the half with a 10-2 spurt.

The Billikens drew to within 12 points, 38-26, with 14:00 to play. Hightower canned a 3-pointer on La Salle's next possession, however, and the Explorers expanded the margin to 23 points on two occasions before settling for the final outcome.

Amanda Kemezys collected a game-high 10 rebounds and Heather King added nine as the Bills gained a 45-32 advantage on the glass. However, SLU shot just 27.1 percent from the field and posted a season scoring low for the second consecutive game. Meanwhile, La Salle connected on 46.2 percent of its shots.

The Billikens host Massachusetts on Saturday. Game time is 2 p.m.