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PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Lafayette's balanced scoring attack and relentless pursuit on the glass guided the Leopards to a 56-49 win over La Salle on Friday night in the 2016-17 season opener, the Leopards first season-opening win on the road since 1996-97.

Senior forward Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby led the offense with 13 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Freshman Olivia Gumbs was impressive in her debut, finishing a rebound short of a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds while providing matchup problems for the Atlantic 10 squad.

The Leopards were dominant on the boards, outrebounding La Salle 55-39. Gumbs led the way with nine rebounds (four offensive) while Anna Ptasinski and Ottewill-Soulsby added eight apiece. Alexis Santarelli had six rebounds and eight points.

Lafayette ran 12 players onto the floor with Ottewill-Soulsby, Angela Ribarich, Ptasinski, Alex Cantwell and Sammy Stipa (8 points, 5 assists) starting the game. Ottewill-Soulsby finished with two blocked shots on the night and moved into fourth place on Lafayette's career blocks list with 59.

Lafayette led 27-22 after the first half, shooting 34 percent from the floor while holding its opponent to 26 percent. Gumbs had eight points and six rebounds in the first half while Ribarich had all five of her rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

Lafayette used an 8-0 run to take a 21-11 lead with 5:44 left in the half. Ptasinki hit a long three and Gumbs and Ribarich each added points inside to cap the spurt and a five-point halftime margin.

The Leopards opened the second half with a 9-0 run with two Ottewill-Soulsby layups a Ptasinski three and Santarelli jumper. Lafayette led 36-22 three and a half minutes into the second half. A minute later, Lafayette extended the lead to 16 points, a margin it held three separate times in the third quarter.

La Salle never really threatened in the final stanza, employing full-court pressure that Lafayette handled. The hosts were 3-of-13 down the stretch, including a 1-of-7 stint from three-point range.

"You could really see how our summer training and conditioning paid off tonight. We wore them down as the game went on and it was reflected by the 55 rebounds we had tonight," said Lafayette head coach Theresa Grentz.

"We struggled a bit in the third quarter when we missed some shots and some turnovers hurt us, but we regrouped and stayed calm. Going forward, we have to work on our ball movement and improving our field-goal percentage."

"I was really happy with the way we hustled on defense. We went to a box-and-one on (Amy Griffin) and Nia, Maia and Alex did a very good job containing her after we switched."

Griffin, who the Atlantic 10's leading scorer in 2015-16, finished with 16 points in 38 minutes to go along with 10 apiece from Micahya Owens and Adreana Miller.

Lafayette continues on the road on Monday, traveling to Rider for a 7 p.m. tip.