La Salle’s low scoring woes continue in 66-42 loss to UMass

La Salle scored its second-fewest points this season in a 66-42 loss to Massachusetts on Saturday inside Tom Gola Arena.

The Explorers’ lowest point total came in Wednesday’s loss to VCU — in which the Explorers put up just 38 points off a 23.6% shooting percentage. Against UMass, La Salle (14-10, 5-4 Atlantic 10) posted just a 25% field-goal percentage, including 11.1% from three, and now finds itself in a two-game losing skid.

Molly Masciantonio and Mia Jacobs led La Salle with nine points and four steals apiece.

Sydney Taylor scored a game-high 26 points and added 10 rebounds to pace UMass (19-4, 9-1), which currently is second in the A-10 standings.

“I don’t think we failed to get ourselves extra possessions,” La Salle head coach Mountain MacGillivray said. “We took 60 shots, they took 54. That should be a recipe for winning a basketball game, typically, but sometimes it’s not. And that’s just the way it goes. It’s basketball.”

The game started off slow, with both teams failing to make a basket for the first four minutes of the contest. It ultimately was La Salle that broke the scoring drought with a layup by senior guard Claire Jacobs, but UMass responded quickly, going up, 9-7, by the end of the first quarter.

The shots weren’t falling for the Explorers from long range, as they shot 0-for-8 from three in the first quarter.

UMass, which entered as the top-scoring offense in the A-10, got going in the second quarter with a 16-3 run. Masciantonio broke the Explorers’ dry spell by drilling a three-pointer with 4 minutes, 25 seconds left in the second quarter, but the Explorers went into halftime trailing the visitors by 11.

For a team that is 11-0 season when leading at the half this season, playing from behind is unwelcome territory .

“[UMass] did a really good job of getting out and getting scores in the second quarter,” MacGillivray said. “But, you know, we had a bad shooting game. A monumentally bad shooting game.”

Despite the final score, Masciantonio’s performance was a bright spot for the Explorers. The point guard entered the game ranked first in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.26, and, on Saturday afternoon, she committed only one turnover and added two assists.

It was Masciantonio’s 12th game of the season with one or zero turnovers.

While the Explorers collectively shot a season-low 3-for-27 (11.1%) from long range, Masciantonio was responsible for two of those three-pointers, with Kayla Spruill contributing the third. Spruill needs just four threes to surpass La Salle’s program record.

» READ MORE: Kayla Spruill is making her mark, and inching close to leaving one, at La Salle

“February is tough on all teams. The season starts getting long, and it’s not quite playoffs yet. The kids are in class mode,” MacGillivray said. “So all that’s challenging. It’s just about being mentally tough and going through it.”

The Explorers will look to get back in the winning column when they visit Richmond on Wednesday (6 p.m., ESPN+).