Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - Shanel Harrison and Brittany Wilson both recorded double-doubles, but the La Salle women's basketball team could not overcome hot shooting by Penn on Friday night, falling 65-56 to the Quakers in the Big 5 opener for both squads.

Wilson drained a game-high 24 points and added 10 rebounds - seven on the offensive glass - for her third double-double of the season and second straight. Twenty of her 24 points came in the second half. Harrison added 10 points while crashing the boards for a game-best 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Michea Bryant also added a season-best 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting.

Kara Bonenberger led Penn (1-3, 1-0 Big 5) with 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting from the floor, and Alyssa Baron added 15 behind seven made free throws. Renee Busch added 13 points off the bench thanks to a perfect 4-for-4 three-point effort.

Penn jumped out to a six-point lead at the 13:39 mark, leading the Explorers (1-6, 0-1 Big 5) 12-6. A Jess Koci layup cut it to four and Penn's Katy Allen responded with a layup to put the score at 14-8 at 12:25.

A Bryant fastbreak layup at 9:54 sparked an 8-1 Explorer run to give La Salle its only lead of the first half, 16-15, with 7:19 to go before halftime. Busch then nailed one of her four triples to put Penn back on top. Bryant tied it up at 18-18 with two free throws before Busch once again nailed a three to spark an 11-3 Quaker run to close the half. La Salle trailed 29-21 at the half, only the second time all season the Explorers found themselves down after 20 minutes of play.

Wilson hit back-to-back threes to open the second half and bring the Explorers within 29-27 before Bonenberger hit a layup and Keiera Ray added a triple to put Penn on top 34-27.

La Salle chipped away at the Penn lead, eventually knotting things at 44-44 thanks to a Wilson three pointer with 9:03 remaining. She then added a layup less than 30 seconds later to give La Salle a short-lived 46-44 lead, until Baron put the Quakers ahead for good with a trey just 13 seconds later.

The Explorers kept the game close until a Courtney Wilson free throw sparked an 8-0 run to put Penn ahead by 10 at 61-51 with 2:17 remaining and put the game out of reach. The teams traded baskets down the stretch for the final 65-56 score.

Although the Explorers dominated the glass by a 41-34 margin, 30 percent shooting hampered the squad including just 23.3 percent in the first half. The squad shot a better 36.7 percent in the second frame. Penn came out on fire, hitting 47.8 percent in the first half and 44.4 percent in the second for a 46.0 percent clip for the game.

The Explorers play one more road game on Sunday, taking on their second Big 5 foe in as many games when they meet up with Villanova at The Pavilion at 2 p.m.