Welcome to the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Tipoff for the 2018-19 Season. Today, we feature the La Salle Explorers.
La Salle (Predicted A-10 Finish: 14th)
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It’s the start of a new era at La Salle, which welcomes Mountain MacGillivray, who is fulfilling a long-held dream to coach at a Catholic school in Philadelphia.
“It’s home,” said the former associate head coach at Quinnipiac. “It’s a university I’ve always admired.”
It’s also in an Atlantic 10 Conference the former associate coach from Quinnipiac respects and expects to contend in. He’ll stress a balanced scoring approach with every Explorer having a green light from the perimeter.
“You’re never going to know what you’re going to get from us,” he said. “At Quinnipiac, we had nine players who could score 20 points or more in a given game.”
It’s a philosophy that comes at a time when La Salle graduates star forward Amy Griffin, who led the Explorers in scoring last season and paced the entire A-10 in scoring as a junior. While the Explorers won’t have Griffin to lean on anymore, expect offensive opportunities to open up if the bigs can bury some treys. Quinnipiac ranked 20th nationally in 3-pointers made, and MacGillivray stresses all of his players will be capable from the range.
Coach: Mountain MacGillivray, 1st season as a head coach.
Last year: 8-22, 3-13 Atlantic 10 (Lost to George Washington 69-49 in the first round of the A-10 Championship).
They’ll miss: Amy Griffin, a prolific player for the program, who averaged 15 ppg and 5.4 rpg, also the team’s leader in steals, blocks and minutes played.
Impact returners: 6-2 junior forward/center Shalina Miller (8.2 ppg, 4.9 rpg); 5-9 sophomore forward Michelle Nicholls, who appeared in just six games as a freshman but put in a strong summer in the Philadelphia summer league; 6-4 junior center Sofilia Ngwafang, who started six games last season and averaged 5.4 ppg and 4.0 rpg.
Newbies of note: 5-7 junior guard Kate Hill, a transfer from Rutgers; 5-11 freshman guard Shayla Sweeney, the career points leader at Pennsauken (New Jersey) High.
Reasons to be optimistic: It’s a new era for the Explorers, who bring in an experienced winner in MacGillivray, associate head coach to Tricia Fabbri at Quinnipiac. The Bobcats’ primary recruiter brought in the highest ranked recruits in school history.
Miller, who ranked fourth in the A-10 in field-goal percentage last season, returns “in the best shape of her life,” MacGillivray said. “She’s really hungry and wants to do well.”
Expect 6-foot senior forward Jeryn Reese, who appeared in 24 games and averaged 11.5 minutes last season after transferring from Owens Community College, to thrive in this new system.
X-factor: How fast can this team get past the growing pains that come with a new coach? It’s often challenging for a program to thrive in a coach’s rookie season but expect the Explorers to be much improved.
Circle the date: Nov. 6 against Howard. Hard to look past MacGillivray’s debut as a head coach. He’s got seven children, all of whom will be in attendance; expect plenty of support from behind the bench (he notes he has 52 first cousins, many who will be on hand to usher in the new era at La Salle).
Bottom line: It’s a new day in Philly for the Explorers. Expect MacGillivray’s energy to be contagious for the players and fans of this program.