Women’s basketball dropped both of their contests this week falling to La Salle on Wednesday at home by a score of 64-46 and Drexel on Saturday with a final score of 61-50.
Monmouth’s matchup against La Salle was their first home game of the young season. Junior forward Lucy Thomas led the Hawks as she scored a team high 11 points while bringing down eight rebounds.
The blue and white showed their defensive presence early as they held La Salle to 1-of-9 shooting and 0-of-8 from three-point range and were able to build an 8-2 lead but the Explorers scored six unanswered points to tie the game up.
The Explorers closed the second frame by making a lay-up and hitting a free throw as La Salle took a 25-18 lead into halftime.
La Salle began to pull away in the third quarter, they drilled six three-pointers and outscored the Hawks 27-11. They shot 80 percent on ten total shots throughout the quarter. La Salle had a healthy 52-29 lead going into the final 10 minutes of play.
Monmouth was able to outscore their opponent in the fourth, however it was too little too late as the Hawks fell to La Salle to drop their second game in a row.
“It was a disappointing showing tonight,” said head coach Jody Craig. “Our tunnel vision is killing us because of all the turnovers. Until we get that problem under control, we will not be a competitive team.”
The Hawks were sloppy with the ball as the committed 31 turnovers as a team compared to La Salle’s 16. The Hawks however did win the rebounding battle as they collected 43 boards. The Hawks home opener record dropped to 17-22 in the loss.
The Hawks then faced off against the Drexel Dragons on Saturday. While they were down for most of the game, the Hawks clawed their way back as they tied it up in the third quarter thanks to an 11-0 run. Drexel would answer with their own 10-2 run.
With only five minutes left in the game Monmouth cut the Dragons lead to just six before Drexel answered with a 6-point run to fortify their lead and help them ultimately win the game.
Leading the Hawks was redshirt junior guard Jen Louro as she finished the game with a total of 15 points. She also added six rebounds and three triples to her tally.
Freshman guard Jania Hall also filled out all components of the stat sheet. She scored double digit points for the first time in her collegiate career with 13 while also notching four rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes of play.
Another freshman, center Belle Kranbuhl, registered a new career high scoring eight points for the Hawks.
“Today was a more competitive effort on both ends of the floor,” said Craig, “We showed a lot of fight from being down at half to tie the game. Their consistency on offense was the difference. We had too many lapses in our scoring to keep pace.”
Louro is now leading the Hawks averaging 9.7 points per game and a total of five three balls. This is the eighth game of her career where she reached double digits in points. It is also the most points she collected in a game since dropping 24 on Purdue Ft. Wayne.
With their loss against Drexel, the Hawks start the season 0-3 going into conference play.
Next up for the blue and white is a matchup against conference opponent Iona on Friday, Dec. 11. This game marks the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) home opener for the Hawks.
The all-time series between these two squads is knotted up at 11 wins each.
In their last meeting, Monmouth outlasted the Gaels knocking them out of the MAAC tournament. Tip-off is set at the Ocean First Bank Center at 5:00 pm.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
