The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team won their first Atlantic 10 conference against Rhode Island on Sunday, Jan. 22, 70-55. The game was broadcasted on national television.
The Lady Billikens (7-12, 1-3 A-10) were led by freshman Desirae Ball who scored a career-high of 18 points.
“What our fans saw today was a team that was hungry for a win, a team willing to do everything necessary to get our first A-10 win of the season,” Head Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller said to Saint Louis Athletics.
Morgan Johnson had a career-high of 12 points, making four of her seven 3-point attempts and also contributed an assist and a rebound. Lorreal Jones completed the trifecta of Lady Billikens in double digit scoring with her 14 points. She also recorded 3 rebounds.
Mallory Eggert played solidy on both offense and defense with a game-high 11 rebounds and also 7 points. The Rams took an early lead at 7-6, but it was the only point in the game that they were ahead. SLU extended their lead to 15-7 and never turned back in their rout of the Rams. An 11-2 run ended the first half with a 35-18 lead for SLU.
The Lady Billikens maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the game with the largest lead being a 21-point advantage with 16:37 left in the game. SLU dominated in every aspect of the game, dincluding shooting, rebounding, and assists.
They shot 45 percent overall, 50 percent from behind the arch and 70 percent from the free throw line. Sloppy ball handing by Rhode Island cost them as the Lady Billikens scored 22 points off of Rhode Island’s turnovers.
Rhode Island has now lost 17 straight games and their overall record dropped to 1-19, 0-5 in A-10 conference play. SLU ended their three game losing streak with this dominant victory and hoped to win consecutive games for the third time this season with a win over George Washington University on Wednesday.
However, the Lady Billikens did not achieve in their mission, losing to the Lady Colonials 68-58. The Lady Billikens dropped to 7-13 overall, 1-4 in the A-10 in the one-sided affair. SLU did lead by 10 in the first half, but an 18-5 run ignited the Lady Colonials, and they never surrendered the lead again. As a team, the Lady Billikens shot only 38.6 percent and an even worse 25 percent for 3 points.
Courtney Webb led the Lady Billikens with 14 points and pitched in 3 rebounds as well. Ball and Eggert both scored 12 points and brought in 6 rebounds, showing strong offensive and defensive play. Nearly half of the Lady Billikens points came off the bench, including another 7 from Sophomore guard Halee Castleman.
23 turnovers cost the Lady Billikens though by not allowing them to set up a consistent offense and giving the ball to George Washington to continue to score. The Lady Colonials scored 26 points off of SLU’s turnovers, compared to just 13 from SLU off the Lady Colonials’ turnovers.
SLU’s defense could not stop star guard Tiana Myers, who scored a game high 24 points in just 34 minutes. The Lady Billikens remain in 10th in the A-10 Conference and must face 15-5 Richmond University on Saturday at Chaifetz Arena at 7 p.m.
