Women's Basketball Outdone at James Madison in CAA Semis, 76-68

Friday, March 10

Harrisonburg, Va.

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

21-10

James Madison

24-7

Drexel

James Madison

Women's Basketball Outdone at James Madison in CAA Semis, 76-68

3/10/2017 9:56:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

HARRISONBURG, Va. – The Drexel women's basketball team saw its run in the CAA Tournament come to an end on Friday night as the Dragons fell to the host school, No. 2 James Madison, 76-68. The Dragons jumped out to an early lead but in front of a hostile crowd at the Convocation Center in the first year of the tournament's return to campus sites saw that lead dwindle away as the Dukes fought back and took control midway through the fourth quarter.

Sarah Curran scored 22 points to lead the Dragons, adding four assists. Bailey Greenberg added 12, one shy of her career high, while Sara Woods finished with 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Aubree Brown scored eight to go along with four assists in 25 minutes of action. Kelsi Lidge put up seven points with a pair of steals and two assists, while Jessica Pellechio scored six with six boards. Meghan Creighton chipped in two points and a pair of assists.

Precious Hall, the CAA Player of the Year, powered the Dukes' offense with 37 points, nearly half of her team's total. She was 13-for-26 from the floor, while her teammates went 13-for-20.

The Dragons led by as many as 12 in the first half. Trailing 15-11 with less than two minutes to play in the first quarter, the Dragons rattled off seven straight to build an 18-15 lead. Brown got it started with an old-fashioned three-point play, driving in from the left and absorbing a foul to finish the play. After a stop, Curran gave Drexel its first lead of the night, and Greenberg knocked down a short jumper at the buzzer to give the team a three-point lead.

The run continued in the second quarter, ultimately extending to a 12-0 spurt, and a 17-3 run over a span of 6:09. The Dragons played stifling defense, particularly on the inside, where James Madison turned the ball over six times in the first quarter and six more times in the second. Drexel, meanwhile, had six turnovers total in the first half.

Woods' six points led the way in the second quarter as the Dragons built what was a 12-point lead, 34-22, with 2:39 to go before halftime. That was where the Dukes began to fight back. They scored six in a row to slash the Dragons' lead in half, but a pair of Woods free throws send Drexel into the locker room with an eight-point edge, 36-28.

After halftime, the teams traded body blows. A three-pointer by Curran had the lead back up to nine, but Hall followed with a trey of her own to get it back to six. Lidge then knocked down a three after a pair of offensive rebounds, including one by her, extended a possession. James Madison scored five straight to make it a four-point game, but Greenberg nailed a long two from the right corner and drew a foul on the shot, finishing the three-point play to stretch the lead back to seven, 45-38.

That came with 6:17 to play in the third quarter, and the Dragons would go scoreless for nearly four minutes as the Dukes finally regained the lead, 46-45. After a timeout, Woods went underneath for a reverse layup that put Drexel back on top, but it would prove to be the final lead of the game for the Dragons as JMU hit the last four points of the quarter and took a three-point lead into the fourth.

The lead was still three with 6:09 to play after a Curran three-pointer made it 57-54, but the Dukes scored six straight, including four by Hall, to build what was, to that point, their largest lead of the night at 63-54. Curran's three with 1:06 to play would pull the Dragons back within five, but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the way as the Dukes advanced to play top-seeded Elon in the championship game on Saturday night.

Drexel will now await its postseason fate, which it will find out on Monday night. The Dragons, who have made seven postseason appearances in the last eight seasons, are likely to earn a WNIT bid and may host games in the tournament. Details will be available late Monday night.