Drexel University
James Madison
James Madison Pulls Away From Dragons in Second Half For 84-63 Win
1/18/2007 9:34:31 PM | Women's Basketball
Harrisonburg, Va. - Drexel went shot for shot with the hottest team in the CAA for 20 minutes but a bout with cold shooting allowed James Madison to pull away in the second half. The Dukes (14-2, 6-0 CAA) made just one more field goal than the Dragons (5-12, 0-6 CAA) in the contest, but they stepped to the free-throw line 28 times in the second half and converted 24 free tosses for the winning margin in the 84-63 game. Gabriela Marginean led the Dragons with 23 points and eight rebounds in the loss.
The Dragons played inspired basketball in the first half of the contest while going up against a James Madison team that had lost just two games all season and had not been defeated in its last 19 games at home. The top of Drexel's zone defense was active enough to make entry passes to the CAA's leading scorer, Meredith Alexis, difficult to execute without a tip. At the bottom of the zone, Drexel's double teaming frustrated Alexis through much of the first half. James Madison compensated by taking three-pointers. The Dukes, who came into the game averaging just under four three-pointers per game made five in the first half on eight attempts.
Narissa Suber and Marginean combined for 25 of the Dragons' season-high 35 first-half points. Suber and Lupariello combined for four three-pointers which helped keep the Dukes from running away in the early parts of the game. Suber erased the Dukes' largest lead of the first half when she canned back-to-back three-pointers from the top of the key to give Drexel a 33-31 lead with 2:35 remaining in the period. The teams would have gone into the half tied at 35 were it not for a put-back by Alexis in the final second of the stanza to put James Madison ahead 37-35.
The Dragons shot 44.1 percent in the period and managed to get off six more shots than the Dukes, who shot 46.4 percent from the floor. The teams would diverge in the second half, however, as James Madison would maintain its solid shooting percentage and Drexel would make just 7-of-28 shots in the second half.
Drexel suffered through a field-goal drought of nearly five minutes early in the second period while the Dukes pulled away with an 11-0 run to take a 55-41 lead seven and a half minutes into the half. Delise Johnson knocked down a 10-foot jumper to snap the hoop-less streak at the 12:40 mark. Johnson got her second career start in the game and turned in a solid 10-point effort.
James Madison pushed the ball in the second half and worked to get Alexis more baskets in transition before Drexel could set up in its defense. The Dragons would go nearly eight minutes without a field goal after Johnson's jumper and with under five minutes left in the half the team had just three field goals. Marginean, who pestered the Dukes with back-door cuts for layups in the first half, was met with more physical defense in the second half. The freshman converted 7-of-8 free-throws during the field-goal drought, but it was not enough to keep Drexel in the game.
Suber finished with 15 points in the contest after a cold-shooting second half. Meredith Alexis poured in 16 second-half points to finish with 27 points and 13 rebounds, her 54th career double-double. Alexis also grabbed her 1,128th career rebound in the contest to become the CAA's all-time leading rebounder. Lesley Dickinson chipped in 16 points for the Dukes, shooting 4-for-6 from deep.
Drexel returns to the DAC on Sunday to take on Old Dominion for the second time this season. Drexel fell to the Lady Monarchs 70-45 on Jan. 7 in Norfolk, Va. The Dragons will look for their revenge at 1:00 p.m. on Jan. 21.
