The La Salle women have struggled this season. There are notable reasons why.
With an almost entirely brand-new rotation and the loss of their best shooter, the Explorers are still looking for their spark
Following an offseason full of departures, expectations were tempered for the La Salle women’s basketball program and its young lineup entering this season.
With Atlantic 10 competition well underway, the Explorers have shown some potential, putting together a three-game conference winning streak at the beginning of January. But a 75-47 loss to Rhode Island at home on Wednesday encapsulated some of the major issues plaguing the team this year — and shows how just far the Explorers still have to go.
La Salle (6-13, 3-5 A-10) fell behind early, with the Rams (13-8, 5-3) leading by as many as 15 in the first quarter. The Explorers showed some fight in the second frame, but the early deficit proved too much to overcome.
Here’s a look at what went wrong for La Salle.
Brand-new lineup
With an almost entirely brand-new rotation this season, La Salle has struggled to find its groove. Graduate guard Molly Masciantonio is the only Explorer who averaged double-digit minutes last season who remained on the roster after the team’s top four scorers departed the program.
A major challenge for the new faces on the team — which includes five freshmen and four transfers — has been to replace the scoring touch of Kayla Spruill, who graduated as La Salle’s career leader in three-pointers. Spruill contributed 12.3 points a night for the Explorers last year and had a 37.8% three-point percentage over her five seasons.
» READ MORE: Kayla Spruill is making her mark, and inching close to leaving one, at La Salle
As a team, La Salle is shooting 28% from three, tied for lowest in the Atlantic 10.
Against Rhode Island, only two Explorers hit double-digit scoring: freshman guard Nicole Melious (15 points) and graduate transfer Makayla Miller from Division II Ouachita Baptist (13).
Melious has taken on a major role in her first collegiate season, appearing in every game so far, and has shown plenty of potential. But with La Salle lacking Division I experience across the board, time might be the most necessary ingredient for the Explorers to rebuild the core pieces they lost in the offseason.
Board battle
A major reason behind La Salle’s loss to the Rams — and most of the losses this season — was their losses on the glass. La Salle also lost its top five rebounders from last season, and its lack of experience shows in the rebounding differential.
La Salle has the worst rebounding margin in the A-10 at -7.7, and the Explorers were utterly dominated on the boards by the Rams, 51-21. That total included 25 offensive rebounds for Rhode Island, which led to a season-high 20 second-chance points. La Salle had only two second-chance points.
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Rhode Island didn’t have a significantly better shooting day than La Salle. In fact, La Salle was quite successful at defending the three, holding Rhode Island to 3-for-22 from beyond the arc. However, the Rams were consistently able to stick with the play after missing their initial shots.
La Salle also showed some major cracks in its fast-break defense, and allowed the Rams to penetrate the paint. Rhode Island scored 19 points off the fast break, and 40 of its 75 points came in the paint.
Up next
The Explorers will visit UMass (3-16, 1-6) next Wednesday (3 p.m., ESPN+). La Salle beat the Minutewomen, 70-64, in their previous meeting on Jan. 13.