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City 6 Preview: La Salle Explorers Primer (WBB)

10/18/2022, 11:00am EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)

(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)

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2022-23 La Salle Explorers
Coach: Mountain MacGillivray, 5th season (47-68, .409)
Last Year: 16-12 (9-6 A-10), lost in A-10 second round (George Washington, 64-54)

The Explorers took another step forward in MacGillivray’s fourth season, certainly a far cry from the 6-25 squad that was his first year; it was just the second winning season in the last 15 seasons at 20th and Olney. And expectations are only continuing to rise, with most of the main pieces back in the fold, leaving MacGillivray with a talented, veteran group whose window to win is right now. With a potential Atlantic 10 Player of the Year candidate leading the way and veteran experience (with talent) behind her, La Salle’s ceiling includes a trip to March Madness, but there’s work to be done.

Key Departures: G Kenya Cote-Lysius (3.1 ppg, 1.8 rpg), Christina Kline (2.6 ppg), Michelle Kozicki (2.2 ppg)

Kenya Cote-Lysisus, who averaged 17.7 minutes off the bench last season, is one of the only rotation players gone from last season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Kenya Cote-Lysisus, who averaged 17.7 minutes off the bench last season, is one of the only rotation players gone from last season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

It says quite a bit about who the Explorers return that they only see about 33 minutes and eight points per game depart, which is production they shouldn’t have too difficult a time filling with a few remaining underclassmen and the incoming freshmen. The most significant departure of the trio is Cote-Lysius, a 5-foot-8 Canadian point guard who averaged 17.7 mpg off the bench as a freshman but entered the transfer portal after the season. Altogether, though, this isn’t a group that the Explorers should miss terribly this season.

New Faces: G Charity Shears (Gr. | West Virginia State), C Gabriela Falcao (Fr. | Figueria De Fox, Portugal), F Mia Jacobs (Fr. | Willeton Senior, Aus.), G Emma Egan (Fr. | Bullitt East, Ky.), G Fiona Connolly (Fr. | Brewster Ac., N.H.)

Bolstering the group of eight returning rotation members are five new faces, including four collegiate rookies and one Division II transfer in Shears, who brings plenty of experience at that level up to the A-10. The 5-9 guard from Kentucky, a two-time All-Mountain East second-team selection and 1,000-point scorer, averaged 12.9 ppg last year while hitting 33% of her 3-pointers and 78.9% of her foul shots. MacGillivray has already had success in finding a quality D-II transfer in his starting point guard, Molly Masciantonio; Shears won’t need to play that big a role, but she can certainly help this squad right away. Of the four freshmen, Jacobs is the most notable name, as the 6-2 forward from Down Under joins her two older sisters in North Philly.

Projected Starters: PG Molly Masciantonio (6.9 ppg, 4.5 apg, 3.4 rpg), G Jaye Haynes (8.1 ppg, 3.3 rpg), G Claire Jacobs (10.3 ppg, 3.2 rpg), G/F Kayla Spruill (15.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg), PF Gabby Crawford (11.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg)


La Salle's versatile forward Kayla Spruill is one of the city's best returning players in 2022-23. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

There are six potential starters for La Salle, and we’re going to shake things up just a little bit and put Crawford into the starting lineup in lieu of Jacobs’ twin sister Amy, who started 26 games a year ago. It’s certainly possible that MacGillivray and staff will keep Crawford as the team’s first option off the bench, as the 6-2 forward thrived in that role — her first at La Salle after transferring from Morehead State — but for now we’ll have her in the lineup due to her production a year ago. Everything else seems rock-solid, from the steady senior Masciantonio at point, Haynes at the off-guard, Spruill as the featured piece of the offense and Jacobs as a steady shooting threat.

Key Reserves: G Amy Jacobs (5.8 ppg, 2.6 rpg), G Julie Jekot (0.7 ppg), F Jordon Lewis (4.4 ppg), G Charity Shears (DNP)

It’s certainly possible (if not likely, considering how deep MacGillivray likes to go into his bench) that a couple of the freshmen will join this group at some point during the season, but at minimum, they’ve got a strong top nine to lean upon, including the D-II transfer Shears. Jacobs has started 59 games in her La Salle career, averaging 5.8 ppg in 81 career games, while Lewis started 24 games as a freshman in 2019-20 and has more than 60 games of Division I experience under her belt. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of jump Jekot makes in her second year, as the 5-11 guard from a hoops family — she’s the third of fourth Division I-playing sisters — only scored 17 points as a freshman but should have a larger role this time around.

By the Numbers

(139): The number of starts returning to the lineup. Throw in another 21 starts from Shears, who’s got more than 70 collegiate starts under her belt, and there aren’t going to be too many teams in the country that have as much continuity in their lineup and top seven from one year to the next. 

(47%): The percentage of available rebounds that La Salle grabbed, a number that was 288th out of 356 Division I teams, according to HerHoopStats. The team’s top rebounder in terms of the % of available rebounds they grabbed when she was on the floor was Crawford (14.2%), followed closely by Spruill (13.5%); none of the other starters were above 7.3%. More minutes for Crawford would help, but it’s clear the rest of the Explorers need to step up on the glass and help create more opportunities and possessions, while limiting those of their opponents.  


La Salle coach Mountain MacGillivray has his program primed to take another leap in his fifth season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

(6): Last year, La Salle lost five games by six-or-fewer points, going 3-5 in games with that margin of victory. If they had gone 8-0 in those games, they would have finished the season 21-7, and right up near the top of the Atlantic 10. It’s those types of 50/50 games that the Explorers need to turn in their favor to take that next step forward this season.

Keep an eye on…

Emerging Strengths: Looking at the Explorers’ advanced numbers from last season, what stands out is…that almost nothing stands out. On both sides of the ball, they were somewhere between No. 130 and 180 in the country in a remarkable number of categories, and inside the top 25 only in the % of points they got from the floor as opposed to the foul line, which isn’t necessarily a stat to be proud of. The lack of glaring weaknesses is nice, but it’ll be interesting to see if this year’s La Salle squad starts to really emerge as outstanding in any one area, on either end of the court.

Kayla Spruill: HerHoopStats’ advanced numbers make it quite clear just how valuable the Explorers’ MVP is. Last year, her Player Efficiency Rating (30.9) was about double that ny of any of the other starters, and her 7.2 win shares — the approximate number of wins that Spruill produced for the Explorers through her play over a baseline replacement player — were more than triple anybody else on the roster. She’s their best offensive player and one of their best defensive players, and the more quality minutes she’s able to give them, the better. Spruill is on the short list of City 6 preseason MVP candidates, and while it might be tough for anybody to catch Nova’s Maddy Siegrist if she repeats her junior year, Spruill’s got a chance.


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