GLEN ALLEN, Va. -- 0.2 seconds was all the time the 13-seeded La Salle Explorers needed to secure the 50-48 victory over the 11-seeded VCU Rams in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship on Wednesday at the Henrico Sports and Events Center.
La Salle advances to the second round on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. against six-seeded Dayton.
Less than one second remained with La Salle (10-22, 4-15) in possession. Ashleigh Connor broke left and laid up the shot. Connor’s layup landed to seal the lead and victory for La Salle.
“Well, that was fun,” La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray said. “Really, really happy for this group of young ladies. They’ve been putting in the work all year. They haven’t tasted that many rewards. But man, that’s really sweet.”
La Salle and VCU sparred back and forth, with each team responding every time the other regained the lead. The second half saw 11 lead changes. The largest lead of the half was 3-points, twice by La Salle and twice by VCU.
The Explorers and Rams swapped scores. Each time the Explorers responded, the Rams answered. VCU regained the lead, and La Salle found a way to take it back.
Mykel Parham found the bucket at 1:58. Her second-chance layup gave the Rams the lead back.
Once again, the Explorers answered.
Connor landed a layup, but VCU’s Cyriah Griffin scored for the Rams. La Salle’s Joan Quinn knotted it at 46 on a free throw.
VCU regained the lead on two free throws by Mary-Anna Asare.
“You can feel the hurt because they put it out there,” VCU coach Beth O’Boyle said about the loss. “And we had a choice on how we went into the game. And how hard we played and how hard we worked and we chose to go after it. And unfortunately, just one, two possessions and we’re probably really smiling and getting excited to play tomorrow.”
Asare scored 20 points and Valentina Ojeda tallied 11. Parham grabbed 13 rebounds, including eight offensive rebounds.
With 37 seconds on the clock, Macktoon once again knotted it. VCU failed to score on the Rams’ next possession.
That set up Connor for her game-winning shot.
“The defense was playing off, and [Macktoon] wasn’t open and so I was like I’m going to take it left and put the shot up and it went in,” Connor said. “I think it was just something we do all the time. I wasn’t having my best game, but right moment at the right time.”
Quinn led the Explorers with 12 points followed by Macktoon with 11. Mackenzie Daleba and Ayisse Magassa each scored eight.
It’s the Explorers second narrow victory over the Rams in the past four days. La Salle concluded its regular season with a 61-60 victory over VCU on Saturday.
“To play them again, especially a team as talented as they are, for them to come out and execute and stay together and weather challenging times,” MacGillivary said, “it was a really, really great effort.”