PHILADELPHIA, PA --- The Howard women's basketball came excruciatingly close to their first victory of the season but the Lady Bison saw a late lead slip away in a 65-64 non-conference loss to the LaSalle University Explorers on Saturday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena.

Howard (0-3) trailed the entired contest until a fastbreak 3-pointer from senior forward Cheyenne Brown gave the Lady Bison a 58-55 edge over LaSalle (1-2) with 4:48 remaining in the game. 

Both teams would endure four lead changes before a pair of free throws from junior guard Imani Bailey gave the Lady Bison a three point lead (64-61) with 1:04 left. 

A layup by LaSalle's Jasmine Alston cut Howard's lead to 64-63 with 54 seconds to go.

Each team would go one-and-done on offense, with freshman guard Hannah Timmons pulling down a defensive rebound and drawing a foul with 13 seconds remaining.

Timmons had a chance to seal the game with a pair of free throws but the rookie would miss both tries, leaving the door open for the Explorers. Alston would gather Timmons' second miss and push the ball ahead to Amy Griffin for LaSalle's eventual game winner with nine seconds left on the clock.

Howard would call a timeout and take one last shot but junior forward Victoria Gonzales could not finish her layup and was stripped after rebounding her miss.

Brown scored in double figures for the third straight game, posting a game-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting. She knocked down four of her six three pointers and both of her free throws. Bailey finished with 11 points while freshman forward Katrina Reeves added 10 points for the first double-digit scoring effort of her career while HU's leading scorer Te'Shya Heslip was limited to nine points.

NEXT UP: Howard will take a second shot at earning win No. 1 at home with a Tuesday, November 25 matchup with Duquense University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.