La Salle beats George Washington, 74-65, for its second straight conference win
Fueled by a 17 point, 11 rebound performance from Kayla Spruill in the win against the Colonials, the Explorers improved to 11-8 overall
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La Salle secured its second conference win of the season on Saturday, defeating George Washington, 74-65.
The game marked the teams’ first meeting since last March, when GW upset La Salle in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament and ended its season.
This time around, La Salle (11-8, 2-2 Atlantic 10) earned its revenge on Alumni Day.
“These are wars every night out there,” La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray said. “We also know there’s nobody that we can take lightly. It’s nice to get revenge, but I don’t want to get revenge now. Nobody wants revenge now. We want it in the tournament.”
Spruill comes alive
After putting up just six points in Wednesday’s win over George Mason, graduate student guard/forward Kayla Spruill had a game against the Colonials (11-7, 3-2). Spruill led La Salle with 17 points, shooting 3-of-7 from three, and added 11 boards.
La Salle faltered early in the game, allowing a 16-2 GW run that extended into the second quarter, but Spruill drilled two threes in a row to give the Explorers life. Thanks to an 11-0 run, La Salle retook the lead and never gave it back.
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Spruill had help from the rest of La Salle’s offense. Saturday marked the third straight game and 12th this season where at least three Explorers hit double-digit point totals, with freshman forward Mia Jacobs adding 16. Guards Claire Jacobs and Molly Masciantonio had 13 apiece.
“If it’s the whole group is out at this level, nobody can rest. They’re all pushing one another,” MacGillivray said. “They’re all pushing, and that’s why we started to see everybody play a little bit better for the whole length of the game.”
Spruill’s three three-pointers put her at 200 total in her career and just eight from tying La Salle’s program record.
Stout defense
A key to La Salle’s victory was its defense, which finished with eight steals, six blocks, and 30 defensive rebounds.
The Explorers stifled GW’s leading scorer, graduate student Mia Lakstigala, a Penn transfer. Lakstigala was fourth in the A-10 in three-pointers made (39) and sixth in three-point percentage (41.5%) entering the game. La Salle kept Lakstigala quiet from behind the arc in the first half, and she finished 1-for-6 from three in a 10-point, 11-rebound performance. Nya Robertson led the Colonials with 20 points.
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La Salle held the Colonials to a 32.4% field-goal percentage, including 36% from three.
“It’s really nice to see hard work pay off,” MacGillivray said. “The team has made a real commitment in practice to raising their intensity level. To play GW, who obviously beat us in the tournament last year, who’s playing great basketball, and they are just athletically really strong, to see the way we were able to compete and make winning plays, it was really fun to watch.”
Up next
La Salle will look to extend its winning streak to three when it visits Big 5 and A-10 rival St. Joseph’s on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+).