PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle women's basketball squad continued its impressive streak, winning its fifth in the last six games with a 63-58 upset of VCU at Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday night in the Atlantic 10 home opener.

The Explorers' 8-7 record is the best through 15 games in Head Coach Jeff Williams' tenure and is the best since the 2008-09 squad went 9-6 through its first 15. The Explorers also start the Atlantic 10 season at 3-0 for the second time in the past three years, also going 3-0 at the start of the 2011-12 season.

"It was a great team win," Williams said. "We're starting to get better, we're starting to play together as a team both offensively and defensively. It took some time but I think the kids are starting to believe. Of our top eight kids, seven of them are new, so it's taken a little time to gel and mesh. It's still a work in progress, but we're getting better and just have to take one game at a time."

Alicia Cropper exploded for a career-high and game-high 23 points, including four three-pointers. She bettered her previous career high of 17, reached twice this season. She added seven rebounds, and is leading the squad in scoring in A-10 games with 14.0 ppg in those three contests.

Leeza Burdgess continued to roll, recording her fourth double-double in the last five games with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Seven of those rebounds were on the offensive glass to help the Explorers post 16 second-chance points. Burdgess is averaging a double-double of 12.3 points and 11.3 rebounds in A-10 play so far.

The Explorer defense was stifling, limiting VCU to a season-low 58 points. The Rams entered the contest averaging 82.9 points per game and whopping 91.5 in their first two Atlantic 10 games this season, and their lowest point total before tonight was 67 in a 67-57 win at Texas-Pan American on Nov. 21. The Explorers also snapped the Rams' league-best and school-record 13-game win streak, dating back to an 83-71 loss at Ohio State on Nov. 14.

"Our success has been our defense," Williams added. "We just wanted to defend them. They came in averaging a lot of points, they play solid defense and they have the conference's leading scorer in [Robyn] Parks. We wanted to take away the three and we didn't do a great job of that. We got in early foul trouble and had to go zone... But we wanted to hold Parks down and take away the three and transition baskets."

Parks led VCU (14-2, 2-1 Atlantic 10) with a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds. However, her 15 points were well below her league-leading average of 23.7 ppg heading into the game tonight.. Jessica Pellechio added 14 points, 11 of which came in the first half. She hit four three-pointers as well. Isis Thorpe chipped in 11, all in the second half.

Parks drained the first basket of the game and the visitors took an early 4-0 lead with two Zakia Williams free throws. The Explorers didn't get on the board until Siobhan Beslow hit the first of two free throws at the 17:10 mark. Just about a minute later, Jasmine Alston hit the Explorers' first field goal.

The Rams saw two more four point leads before the Explorers mounted an 8-0 run to take a 13-9 lead. Burdgess hit two freebies, and Beslow, Khristin Lee and Lisa Mintzer added buckets in the run.

Adaeze Alaeze broke up the run with a three to spark a 10-0 Ram spurt over the next 3:10 to put the score at 19-13 and force an Explorer timeout. The timeout was worth it, and the home squad responded with a 5-0 spurt to draw within one at 19-18 with 7:20 on the clock.

The Rams pushed their lead back to six with a 7-2 spurt and held a two-possession advantage until Beslow hit a jumper in the paint with one second left in the half for the 32-30 halftime score.

Cropper jumpstarted the scoring with a fastbreak jumper 15 seconds into the half and added a trey 40 seconds later to give the Explorers the lead back at 35-32. Parks responded with jumper to draw within 35-34 at 18:10.

Cropper then found Burdgess under the basket and she drained the bucket to spark an 11-3 run to give the Explorers a nine-point lead at 46-37 with 14:27 on the clock.

Two Micahya Owens free throws at 11:06 regained a nine-point advantage at 48-39, the largest either team would have down the stretch.

The Rams started chipping away slowly, eventually regaining a 57-56 lead on a Ryen Henry layup with just 1:12 remaining. The Explorers were unfazed, as Cropper scored what proved to be the game winner with a jumper with 43 seconds left to put the squad up 58-57.

Parks missed a jumper with 30 on the clock, which Burdgess picked up and the Explorers called timeout before a jump ball could be called. On the ensuing inbounds, Alston was fouled and sank both free throws for a three-point cushion with 19 seconds left.

After a VCU timeout, Thorpe tried to get off a three-pointer but was fouled and had the opportunity to tie the game on three free throws. She made the first to draw within two, but missed the second to force an intentional miss on the third. The Explorers picked up a team rebound to get the ball back after that miss. Thorpe then fouled Cropper, who made one of two with four seconds left to put the score at 61-58, and Lee iced the game with two made free throws with one second remaining after one more VCU foul.

La Salle shot 36.7 percent (22-60) from the field and 41.7 percent (5-12) from long range. The Explorers stepped up their game at the free throw line, going 77.8 percent (14-18). The Rams went 36.1 percent (22-61) overall and just 28.0 percent (7-25) from three. They were done in at the charity stripe, going a paltry 7-for-17.

The Explorers also owned a 45-41 advantage on the glass, including 15 offensive boards leading to the 16 second-chance points.

The Explorers remain at home through the weekend, looking to go 4-0 for the first time since joining the A-10 in 1995-96 when they host Massachusetts at 1 p.m.