Penn men escape with a win in season opener; La Salle, Temple women come up short

Here’s a roundup of other Big 5 teams in action from their season openers on Monday.

Penn forward Nick Spinoso (right), seen here in action last season, was a key contributor in the Quakers season-opening win against NJIT on Monday.Read moreYong Kim / Staff Photographer

by Staff Reports

Published Nov. 5, 2024, 12:11 a.m. ET

Penn guard Dylan Williams scored 17 points to fuel a 58-57 road win over the New Jersey Institute of Technology in men’s basketball action on Monday. In the Quakers’ season-opener, Williams was 5-for-9 from the field, dropping 3 of 4 attempts from three.

Ethan Roberts added 15 points, and both guard Sam Brown and forward Nick Spinoso added seven points apiece for the Quakers. Tariq Francis and Sebastian Robinson scored 20 points each for NJIT, with Robinson adding nine boards.

Penn will tip off its home opener inside the Palestra against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Thursday (7 p.m., ESPN+).

La Salle falls to Maine in opener

With a starting five largely making their debuts, the La Salle women’s basketball team dropped its season opener behind a 65-51 loss to Maine on Monday. Junior guard Ayisse Magassa led the way for the Explorers with 13 points. Freshman guard Joan Quinn added 12 points in her first regular-season game since graduating with All-Catholic League honors from Cardinal O’Hara.

Guard Paula Gallego led Maine with 21 points.

La Salle will get its turn opening up the newly remodeled John Glaser Arena when it hosts Delaware in its home opener on Saturday (noon, ESPN+).

Temple drops opener to Richmond

Temple was unable to comeback from a 14-point halftime deficit and despite a strong second half, fell to Richmond, 79-72, inside the Liacouras Center.

Tiarra East scored a team-high 23 points, and guard Tarriyonna Gary added 18 for an Owls team that shot 40.6% from the field but found themselves outrebounded 39-26.

Rachel Ullstrom put on a show for the Spiders, finishing with 32 points, shooting 9 of 11 from the field, including going 4-for-5 from deep and a perfect 10-for-10 at the line.

Temple will be back in action next week when it travels to Delaware on Nov. 12 (6:30 p.m.).