PHILADELPHIA – The Xavier women’s basketball dropped a heart-breaking 52-49 decision to La Salle Friday afternoon in its Atlantic 10 Championship first round game held at Saint’s Joseph’s Hagan Arena. The Musketeers’ last-second half-court shot fell short as XU was eliminated from postseason play. Junior Amber Gray led the Musketeers with 14 points, one of four in double-figures.
Xavier concludes its 2011-12 season with an 8-20 overall mark (5-9 A-10). La Salle improves to 14-16 on the year and advances to face top-seeded St. Bonaventure tomorrow in the quarter finals.
Also for the Musketeers, freshman Lakeisha Crouch posted a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds while junior Jessica Pachko added 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Senior Sabrina Johnson chipped in 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Musketeers led by as many as 12 in the second half, 38-26, with just over 13 minutes left in the contest. La Salle used a 14-0 run to retake the lead, 40-38, and the two teams battled the rest of the way. The eighth tie of the game came at the 1:24 mark, 49-49, after a layup from LAS’ Brittany Wilson. Wilson then converted an all-fashioned three-point play with 22 second on the clock to give the Explorers their final margin.
Xavier trailed for most of the first half until senior Tyeasha Moss’ layup with just over three minutes to go in the frame knotted the score at 21-all. Crouch sank a free throw 37 seconds later to give XU its first lead of the contest. The Musketeers held the Explorers scoreless for the last 5:13 of the half and stretched their lead to seven, 28-21, heading into intermission. Gray was XU’s leading scorer for the half with nine points, including scoring the Musketeers’ first seven points of the game.
Xavier Athletics would like to thank seniors Sabrina Johnson and Tyeasha Moss for their hard work and dedication and wish them both well in the future!
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