WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – Penn College opened the season with a 55-48 win over Thiel College in a non-conference women's basketball contest Wednesday in Bardo Gym. The Wildcats improved to 1-0, while the Tomcats fell to 0-1.

Tori Wolfe recorded her first career double-double with game-highs in points (17) and rebounds (10) for Penn College. Gwendolyn Lavelle added 11 points for the Wildcats and Ericka Lepley finished with 10.

Jess Vormelker led Thiel with 15 points and Taylor Duchon finished with 12.

The Tomcats led 15-11 after the first quarter and 28-22 at halftime before the Wildcats outscored Thiel 33-20 in the second half.

The Tomcats took their largest lead, 35-26, with 4:17 left in the third quarter but Penn College responded with an 8-4 run to end the period trailing 39-34. Lepley and Jane Herman paced the run with three points each.
After Thiel took a five point, 42-37, lead early in the fourth, Penn College erased the deficit with six consecutive points from Wolfe to take a 43-42 advantage with 6:12 left in the game. After two more deadlocks, the Wildcats went on a 9-1 run to take a 54-46 lead with 26 seconds left in the game. Lavelle and Cassi Kuhns paced the spurt with three points each for Penn College.

The Wildcats return to action Friday, 7 p.m., at Arcadia.