Karisma Penn couldn’t be stopped on Friday night.

The senior led the Illinois women’s basketball team to a 70-59 victory over previously unbeaten and No. 6 Georgia at Assembly Hall on Friday night.

Penn scored 27 points and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds, while also setting the school record for career blocks with 232, passing former teammate Jenna Smith’s mark of 231.

After trading baskets to tie the score at six, Illinois jumped out to a lead following a 25-5. The Illini led 31-13 with 6:18 remaining in the first half. Georgia then went on a 10-0 run to cut Illinois’ lead to eight, but the Illini went into the half leading 36-29.

Illinois (7-5) was able to maintain a small lead for most of the second half, but Georgia tied the Illini with 7:09 remaining shortly after senior Adrienne GodBold fouled out. The Illini never relinquished their lead, mostly thanks to two crucial plays by Penn.

“When (GodBold) fouled out I think KP said: ‘Get on my back. I’m going to take us home,’ and made plays when they tied and then (we) just got the ball in her hands at the right time,” Illinois head coach Matt Bollant said. “She did a good job making plays.”

Penn scored 14 second-half points; her aggressiveness was crucial in three Bulldogs fouling out.

“I just wanted to win,” Penn said.

The win was Illinois’ first over a ranked opponent under Bollant and the program’s first win over a top-10 team since a 66-65 victory over then-No. 10 Ohio State on Feb. 9, 2012. Illinois’ last win over a team ranked better than No. 10 was against then-No. 5 Georgia on Jan. 2, 2000.

“It’s right up there with Ohio State last year,” Penn said. “Just being on the brink of winning games the whole season and then getting over that hump and getting the signature win. I think the big difference is that this year we will continue that and that we won’t resort back to old things. This is just a building block for us to improve off of.”

Georgia was 12-0 coming into the game boasting wins over Rutgers, at Georgia Tech and at TCU.

The Bulldogs (12-1) turned the ball over 26 times and played at a faster pace than head coach Andy Landers wanted.

“You have to give credit to Illinois for everything that happened,” Landers said. “They stayed the course. They played the way they want to play. It’s the beginning of something good for Illinois.”

Friday marked the first game of the season for GodBold. She was academically ineligible for the fall semester but was declared eligible for Friday’s game after semester grades were finalized Wednesday.

“It was obviously great to have Adrienne back,” Bollant said. “I thought she made a difference from the start defensively.”

GodBold scored a bucket just 11 seconds into her season and finished with 11 points before fouling out with 10 minutes remaining in the second half. She was named co-team MVP last season, as well as Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year.

Illinois’ win follows a 69-68 loss against Illinois State on Dec. 21. The team took four days off for Christmas and returned to campus Wednesday to prepare for Georgia.

“To be honest with you, I’ve been disappointed with some of the losses we’ve had at home,” Bollant said. “I think it’s a new system, you don’t know how long it’s going to take and obviously we’re going to have some ups and downs yet.

“This was something that this program needed. We fight and try to get better in practice, and sometimes you don’t always see the results in the game, and it’s hard for young ladies to keep working and keep battling and keep believing in the system. It was an important win for our program and an important win for our players that they got to see the fruits of their labor.”

Illinois will open conference play on Wednesday against No. 11 Purdue. The Illini will be looking for their first back-to-back wins against ranked opponents since November 1999.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.