La Salle eyes continued improvement after placing second in the A-10 women’s basketball preseason poll
The Explorers return all five starters and added an experienced shooter in the offseason.
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La Salle grabbed second place in the preseason poll revealed Tuesday morning at the Atlantic 10 Conference’s women’s basketball media day. St. Joseph’s was picked to finish sixth.
The preseason poll was voted on by the conference’s head coaches. La Salle opens its season Nov. 7 against Howard, which placed second in the MEAC last year.
The A-10 has added Loyola Chicago and also welcomes three new head coaches for Dayton, Fordham, and St. Louis.
“What stands out is that our coaches really want to work hard so that we can have more teams qualify for the NCAA championship as an at-large contender,” A-10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade said.
“I am really confident with the leadership that we have in our institutions, with our head coaches, and the resources we’re putting behind women’s basketball in the A-10 that that goal will be accomplished.”
This will mark coach Mountain MacGillivray’s fifth year at the helm at La Salle, following a 16-12 season that featured a 9-6 A-10 record — the program’s best in 25 years.
“I think we’ve discovered that we can have a lot of success.,” he said. “We take every day as it comes. So, I don’t think I had a master plan for where I thought we should be. But I like where we are now. But there’s a lot of work to be done.”
The Explorers return the same starting five, along with five new players, which provides this team with depth. Graduate students Kayla Spruill and Molly Masciantonio confirmed that practices have been competitive from the start.
» READ MORE: Kayla Spruill is having a strong career as the La Salle women’s basketball team celebrates its seniors
“Just the amount of people that we have that shoot threes, I think is really special about our team because it really can go to anybody. I feel our whole team can be really efficient from the outside,” said Spruill, a guard/forward who was named to the preseason all-conference first team.
Charity Shears, a graduate transfer guard from West Virginia State, ended her senior season ranked second in the Division II Mountain East Conference in free-throw percentage (.816) and 12th in three-point field goals per game (2.0). She holds West Virginia State’s career record for three-pointers.
“Right now, in our preseason work, preseason practices, she’s been the most efficient three-point shooter on the roster,” MacGillivray said.
With La Salle’s second-place preseason poll position behind defending A-10 champion UMass comes new expectations for the Explorers.
» READ MORE: La Salle’s Molly Masciantonio is about making memories and good vibes on the court
“Like Coach Mountain said, it’s just the preseason polls,” Masciantonio said. “We kind of have to prove a lot to ourselves and others that we can actually win and do everything we are capable of.”
Said MacGillivray: “Preseason polls are what they are. ... The reality is if you look at this conference, the teams that are picked two through nine could have easily been picked second.”
Viewers can expect a few games nationally televised this season with the A-10′s three media partners, ESPN, CBS Sports, and NBC Sports.
This year also marks the second year playing the A-10 conference championship in Wilmington at Chase Fieldhouse. McGlade praised those who helped create the success of last year’s championship and hopes in the future to host regular-season games in the facility.