Jacobs sisters lead La Salle past St. Bonaventure for fifth straight win

La Salle cruised to its fifth win in a row, defeating St. Bonaventure, 65-52, Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.

Though the Bonnies (4-20, 1-8 Atlantic 10) pulled within one point midway through the third quarter, the Explorers (14-8, 5-2) rallied back to a 10-point lead by knocking down three-pointers on three of four possessions. La Salle held St. Bonaventure to 4-for-17 (23.5%) from three, which proved to be the death knell for the Bonnies.

Sisters Claire and Mia Jacobs led the Explorers’ offense with 21 and 17 points, respectively. Claire Jacobs, a senior guard, went 4-for-7 from three and grabbed five boards. It marked the 17th time this season that she has hit a double-digit point total.

“Everyone just kept shooting their own shots, and some games, some people’s fall more than others,” Claire Jacobs said. “Our team gets the mentality of even if it’s not going in, we’ll keep shooting, and fortunately enough for me and Mia, it was going in.”

Maddie Dziezgowski led the Bonnies with 15 points.

When the Bonnies threatened to take the lead midway through the third quarter, Claire Jacobs assisted on Charity Shears’ two three-pointers that helped La Salle pull away. Shears finished with 10 points.

Freshman forward Mia Jacobs set a career high in points and added six boards and a team-high three steals.

“We’re feeling pretty confident, and we think with each win and each game that we grow, we gain more confidence from each other,” Claire Jacobs said. “It pulls us to a higher standard, which I think helps us get better each game.”

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A difference-maker was the Explorers’ perseverance on the offensive end. The Explorers grabbed 21 offensive boards, leading to 16 second-chance points. This was the second-most offensive boards for La Salle this season. Comparatively, the Bonnies scored just four second-chance points off of seven offensive rebounds.

When St. Bonaventure ramped up the pressure at the end of the first half, closing within five points, Mia Jacobs grabbed Molly Masciantonio’s rebound and put back the layup to end the half on a high note. The Explorers are now 11-0 when leading at half.

Five of La Salle’s offensive boards were courtesy of Kayla Spruill, while Mia Jacobs added three, and Emilee Tahata contributed four off the bench.

“Kayla realized that we need to finish off possessions and get ourselves extra possessions, and she went and got them for us,” head coach Mountain MacGillivray said. “We’ve been continuing to fight every possession for eight, nine games now. It’s been nice to watch.”

The Explorers will hit the road to take on VCU on Wednesday (11 a.m., ESPN+), as they look to push their win streak to six.

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