The Misericordia University women's basketball team opened the 2016-17 season with a 56-26 win at Penn State Harrisburg, Tuesday night.

Rachel Carmody had a game-high 15 points as the Cougars rewarded head coach Jason Rhine with his first career victory.

Japriya Carroll had nine points and Justine Seely had a game-high nine rebounds.

Misericordia raced out to a 20-3 first-quarter lead and never looked back.

The Cougars scored the first seven points of the game and led 7-3 with less than three minutes gone.

Carroll made back-to-back jumpers to make it 11-3 and MU closed the period on a 13-0 run.

Jacklyn Hajec opened the second quarter with a bucket and Carmody followed with a three-pointer as the Cougars went up 25-3.

Misericordia shot 46.7% from three-point range (7-15) and led by as many as 31 points in the second half.