Dragons' Rally Falls Short in 66-57 Loss to Loyola

Sunday, November 12

Daskalakis Athletic Center

1:00

Drexel University

Loyola (Md.)

Marginean recorded her first career double-double with 26 points and 12 rebounds against the Greyhounds

Dragons' Rally Falls Short in 66-57 Loss to Loyola

11/14/2006 10:38:00 AM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Philadelphia, Pa. - Freshman Gabriela Marginean exploded for a 26-point, 12-rebound double-double to lead the Dragons (0-2) back from a 16-point first-half deficit against Loyola (1-1). The Dragons trailed by just three points, at 48-45 with 7:26 remaining, but a persistent Loyola squad got to the line for 13 free-throws in the final five and a half minutes to pull away to a 66-57 victory.

Marginean was the only Dragon in double figures while Jill Glessner and Brittany Dunn led Loyola with 17 points apiece. Tynisha Davis added 15 points for the Greyhounds who started the game on fire from the floor, making five of their first seven shots including three jumpers by Davis.

The hot shooting start helped Loyola jump out to a 19-3 lead in the first eight and a half minutes of play. A driving layup by Narissa Suber steadied the team and keyed a 9-2 run, capped by an Alison Lupariello three-pointer, that cut Loyola's lead to 21-12. Freshman Nicole McCombs provided the Dragons with another source of scoring in the post when she muscled her way into the lane for a layup at the 3:19 mark then got the ball on the block again and drew a foul with a little over a minute remaining.

McCombs converted both free-throws to make it a manageable 29-20 game with 1:05 left on the clock. In the waning seconds of the first half the Greyhounds' Jill Glessner would poach a Drexel pass at the top of the lane and sprint the length of the court toward an easy layup. Narissa Suber took off behind her and was able to disrupt the play enough to force a miss. Suber grabbed the rebound as the rest of the players were getting to the offensive end of the court. She turned and took off for the Drexel basket with 20 seconds ticking down. With Marginean trailing the play on the wing, Suber drew the attention of two defenders and slid the pass through to the freshman who finished with a layup to make it a 29-22 Loyola advantage with 14 seconds left in the half. The Greyhounds would knock down a long two-pointer at the end of the period, however, typifying Drexel's frustrations in the game and making it 31-22 heading into the locker room.

Loyola shot 40.6 percent from the floor while the Dragons, who started the game by missing 11 of their first 12 shots, finished at 30 percent for the first period and 1-for-11 from deep.

Drexel set the tone early in the second half when Marginean hit a jump shot then drove the lane for a finger-roll layup and half a minute later she intercepted a pass at half court and barreled to the hoop for a strong layup against two defenders. A pair of free-throws by Suber on the next possession capped a 14-4 run that started with McCombs' layup near the end of the first half and cut Loyola's lead to three points at 33-30.

The Dragons went back to McCombs in the post and she delivered another layup off the dribble in the lane to cut the deficit to one point at 37-36 with just over 12 minutes left. A pair of three-point plays by Jill Glessner and Brittany Dunn over the next four minutes would help Loyola pull away again.

Drexel challenged one more time when Delise Johnson got the ball in the post and spun into the lane, she saw the defense shifting to help and skipped the ball to Anora Suber on the left wing beyond the three-point stripe. Suber, who scored a career-high 10 points in her last game, knocked down the open shot to make the score 47-43 with 8:15 remaining. Marginean would follow with a jumper on the next possession to cut the deficit to three points.

Loyola closed out the game with a 12-4 run courtesy of a pair of layups and eight trips to the free-throw line over next six minutes. The 60-49 deficit proved to be too much for Drexel to overcome with just under two and a half minutes remaining despite a 20-point effort by Marginean in the second half. The Dragons closed out the game shooting 34.4 percent from the floor. Loyola's shots were true in the second half as well and the team finished shooting 41.8 percent in the game.

Marginean's double-double is the first for a Drexel player since Catherine Scanlon recorded one against Delaware on Feb. 24, 2006. It is the first double-double by a Drexel freshman since Scanlon did it in the 2002-03 season when she recorded nine as a rookie. Narissa Suber finished with four points in the contest, but tied her career high by grabbing seven rebounds.

Drexel hosts crosstown rival Temple, an NCAA qualifier last season, next Friday, Nov. 17 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Tip time is set for 7:00 p.m.