(Courtesy Saint Louis Athletics)
Desirae Ball scored a team-high 16 points, but Saint Louis was eliminated from the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship with a 65-56 first-round loss to La Salle Thursday at Richmond Coliseum.
The Billikens, seeded 10th, finished the season with a 12-18 record. Seventh-seeded La Salle improved to 15-14 and advanced to play No. 2 St. Bonaventure in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Denisha Womack scored 12 points and collected a team-high eight rebounds. Olivia Jakubicektossed in 10 points and added a team-high three assists.
Micahya Owens and Alicia Cropper led La Salle with 23 and 20 points, respectively, and Cropper registered a game-high five assists. Leeza Burdgess had 10 points and 13 rebounds, while Jasmine Alston gathered 12 rebounds.
Saint Louis committed just nine turnovers, but cold shooting hampered the Billikens. SLU shot just 33.8 percent overall and 13.6 percent from beyond the arc.
The Bills trailed by 11 at intermission but caught fire early in the second to cut their deficit to four.
Jakubicek drove for a layup on SLU’s initial second-half possession. Ball hit a jumper, Erin Nelson canned a long 2-pointer, and Jamesia Price buried a triple to make it 37-33 La Salle.
The Explorers led 39-35 after Jakubicek drove the baseline for a layup, but they quickly expanded the margin to nine when Cropper hit a runner and a trey on consecutive possessions.
Saint Louis trailed 46-41 when Ball connected on a short jumper. After the Billikens missed an opportunity to draw closer, Owens found the mark from distance for an eight-point La Salle advantage. SLU would draw no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Saint Louis trailed by as many as 14 points before closing the gap to 11 at the break. The Billikens were just 9-of-30 overall and 1-of-12 from beyond the arc in the opening stanza, scoring on consecutive possessions just twice.
