WASHINGTON -- La Salle Head Coach Mountain MacGillivray sat down alongside the media prior to his press conference at Atlantic 10 Media Day, watching his men’s counterpart Fran Dunphy outline his program, the smile not leaving his face.
MacGillivray is always learning, and his opening sentiments were quite similar, that it is an exciting time to be a part of La Salle Women’s Basketball.
The newly renovated John E. Glaser Arena has the La Salle community excited and with it, MacGillivray believes what is being done on the court can lead to success this season.
“We have a lot of fresh faces who are putting in a lot of work and have spent a lot of time over the summer and preseason bonding,” he explained. “It’s a group that has really bought in to being the best team it can be and gets better every day. I’m excited to see what that looks like going into our first game in less than a month.”
MacGillivray enters his seventh season with the Explorers and has found commitment throughout his team in having an ability to connect and the results have been encouraging.
Player leadership has shown up in a way he has not seen among his explorers, and while he is unsure how that will look at year’s end, he believes it will look pretty good.
“Being very different team personnel wise than we’ve had in the past, we’ve identified different ways we’re going to play,” stated MacGillivray. “We’re still going to be a very up-tempo team, but this is a group that can get to the rim and finish around the basket at a different level than teams we’ve had in the past. Once we finally get down all of the structure of our defense is really going to be able to create a lot of problems. We pride ourselves on forcing turnovers and not turning the ball over. That forcing turnovers part I think we’re going to be able to do at a higher level than we’ve done in a long time.”
Here is a look at the Explorers:
Coach- Mountain MacGillivray: 7th season
Last year- La Salle was 8-22 and 5-13 in A-10 play. La Salle’s high point in conference play was winning three consecutive contests, defeating Fordham, St. Bonaventure and Massachusetts. The Minutewomen ended La Salle’s season in the Atlantic 10 Championship.
They’ll miss- Nicole Melious (10.2 ppg/81% FT), Makayla Miller (10.2 ppg/41.4% FG), Molly Masciantonio (7.8 ppg/87 assts)
Impact returners- Aryss Macktoon (10.8 ppg/83.3% FT in four games), Jolene Armendariz (6.2 ppg/6 rebs)
Newcomers of note- Ashleigh Connor (transfer from Saint Louis), Mackenzie Daleba (Fairfield transfer), Ayisse ‘Shay’ Magassa (Clarendon College)
Reasons to be optimistic:
Aryss Macktoon is back, healthy and eager to produce for her team. During her time away from the court, she learned the importance of team chemistry and has applied those learning lessons to her group.
“Having a bond off the court and knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “It’s easy if you forget a play, you can still make a play out of it without turning the ball over. This team does a great job of playing together without worrying too much about where exactly to go.”
Jolene Armendariz has returned to La Salle and it is clear that she is ready to take the next step with this program.
“Jolene looks fantastic right now,” observed MacGillivray. “Her fitness level is at an all-time high, she’s shooting the ball extremely well. She is relentless in pursuit of the ball, especially on the offensive boards, but at both ends. She’s shown she can get the ball out and get our team running on the floor. She’s really taking it upon herself to lead and be a vocal presence. It’s really welcomed and I love seeing it.”
There is a lot of newness with this program as 13 players will don Explorers blue and yellow this season. Of that 13, eight are transfers and five are freshman.
Ashleigh Connor has the most experience of the transfers in the sense that she previously played for Saint Louis, getting to experience a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a WNIT championship.
Mackenzie Daleba also brings winning experience, as Fairfield was a top-25 team during the 2023-24 season.
“To the person our returning players and new players coming in really made a commitment as individuals in connecting,” MacGillivray detailed. “Through that we saw that flourish over the summer, player leadership showed up in a way I haven’t seen at La Salle. What that’s going to look like at the end of the year, time is going to tell. I think it’s going to look pretty good.”
X-Factor:
La Salle’s X-factor may just be that time will tell in terms of identity. There is a bit of meanness and nastiness being exhibited in practice and MacGillivray is a fan of it. He hopes that will carry over into the regular season.
Circle the date: La Salle has five true home games on its non-conference schedule, beginning with a Nov. 9 tilt against Delaware. The Explorers also have its annual Big 5 Classic which tips off Dec. 3. Its biggest road game may be Dec. 17 at Texas, a team which ranked seventh in the country by year’s end.
Bottom line: This program is eager to take jumps and with its composition appears poised to improve as the season progresses. There is a clear excitement within the program and there will be plenty of opportunities for La Salle to succeed.