Drexel University
UNC Wilmington
Marginean Leads Drexel To First Conference Win, 51-48, Over UNCW
2/4/2007 2:44:24 PM | Women's Basketball
Philadelphia, Pa. - In front of a regional television audience on Comcast SportsNet, Freshman Gabriela Marginean scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half, including two pivotal three-point plays during a 23-8 Drexel run, to give the Dragons (6-16, 1-10 CAA) their first conference win of the season, 51-48, over UNC Wilmington (7-13, 3-7 CAA).
Drexel surged back from a deficit that grew as large as 14 points in the first half. The Dragons built their momentum in the closing moments of the opening period when Kira Karlstrom drained a long three-pointer and Narissa Suber followed with two more treys in the final 40 seconds before the break to make it a manageable 26-20 contest.
After the first five minutes of the second half, during which UNC Wilmington pushed its lead to eight points, the Dragons took over the game. Andrea Peterson spun in a driving layup from the wing to set Drexel's rally into motion at the 14:52 mark. Jennifer Stjarnstrom drained a deep three-pointer to make it a 36-33 UNC Wilmington lead. The defensive play of the freshman forward helped forced the Seahawks to miss on the next possession and Stjarnstrom scrapped for the physical defensive rebound. Kira Karlstrom dropped the game-tying three-pointer on the next trip down the court to bring the Daskalakis Athletic Center's crowd to its feet.
Alex Stewart, who along with Lori Drake amassed double-doubles for UNC Wilmington, steadied her team with a jumper to regain the lead momentarily. But the Dragons would reel off nine straight points, capped by a Narissa Suber three-pointer to claim a 48-39 lead for the Dragons at the 6:56 mark.
The Seahawks would whittle the lead down to four points at 48-44, but Marginean maintained Drexel's momentum by powering her way down the right side of the lane for a layup and a foul. The CAA's fourth leading free-throw shooter converted the toss to keep Drexel ahead 51-44 with 3:47 remaining.
Coming out of the final media timeout, UNC Wilmington attacked the basket with renewed vigor, drawing fouls on two straight possessions and knocking down four free throws to trim Drexel's advantage to three points at 51-48. The Dragons would make the game interesting by missing the front end of three one-and-one free-throw opportunities over the final 1:13 of the game.
In the end, the shortest player on the court would come up big for the Dragons. With UNC Wilmington inbounding the ball with four seconds remaining and the length of the court to go, Kira Karlstrom leapt to challenge the baseball pass at half court. The 5-foot-4 senior guard came down with the steal to seal a hard-fought Drexel victory, which snapped a nine-game skid for the Dragons.
Drexel held the Seahawks to 20 percent shooting in the second half and scored 17 points off of 14 UNC Wilmington turnovers in the game. The Dragons took care of the ball, giving up a season-low nine turnovers in the contest and just three in the second half. Karlstrom led the team with six assists to go with her eight points. In addition to her solid post defense, Stjarnstrom chipped in season highs with five points and five rebounds. Narissa Suber needs just four more points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career.
The Dragons look to maintain their momentum when they travel to play Towson on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7:00 p.m.
