Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
George Mason
Hester Leads Dragons To Seventh Straight Win, 62-42, Over George Mason
1/13/2008 4:19:02 PM | Women's Basketball
Fairfax, Va. - Nicole Hester scored a season-high 17 points to lead Drexel to its seventh straight victory and third in a row in conference play. The Dragons (8-6, 3-0) used a hot shooting first half to take out George Mason 62-42 and remain undefeated in the CAA. Narissa Suber chipped in 14 points and Jasmina Rosseel added 13, to make up for the scoring of Gabriela Marginean who was limited to 23 minutes of play due to foul trouble. The team is currently on its longest winning streak since the 1987-88 season when the Dragons won eight straight.
George Mason did little to help itself from the foul line in the contest, converting on just 16 of its 30 trips to the line, which accounted for much of the 20-point difference in the contest. Drexel shot a first-half season-best 58.8 percent to pull away for its second straight conference road win.
Following an erily similar pattern to the team's win over Delaware, Marginean found herself in foul trouble within the first four minutes of play and took an early seat. Suber, Hester and Suber picked up the scoring void left by the CAA's second-leading scorer. Suber knocked down her first three three-point attempts, finding herself with plenty of shooting space on the right elbow.
When Marginean was tabbed with her second foul at the 14:58 mark, Rosseel came off the bench against to match up against an undersized George Mason squad. Brooke Cornish joined her on the court to take the place of Delise Johnson who also had two fouls at that point. The Dragons were trailing 10-8 at the time. Cornish keyed a 13-0 Drexel run with a nice pivot move in the post and a cut off a screen at the foul line for a layup. Suber took advantage of a late defensive shift looking to stop her fourth three-pointer, by giving a head fake and taking the ball in for a jumper. Thirty seconds later, Hester capped the spurt with a jumper of her own to make it a 26-14 Drexel game.
The Patriots cut Drexel's lead down to eight points with a minute and a half left in the first period, but Rosseel quickly dispelled any notions of Mason comeback when she drove the length of the court and faked a pass to open herself up for a layup. The speedy freshman lingered near the top of the key after her hoop and promptly poached a pass from the Patriots on the insuing inbounds play to keep Drexel ahead 36-24.
The Dragons took a 37-24 lead into the locker room after shooting a season-best 58.8 percent in the first half. Marginean saw just five minutes of action in the period, which was partially to account for George Mason's slight 16-15 edge on the boards. Suber scored 11 of her 14 points in the half, Hester added 10 and Cornish put in all eight of her career-high-tying total in the period to go with two blocks. Stacy McCullough handed out a career-high five assists in the period.
George Mason had another golden opportunity in the second half when Marginean and Hester got their third fouls by the 15"25 mark in the period. Hester hit the bench with her team on top 41-27, but Maginean managed to remain in the game without disqualification for the duration. Although she failed to reach double figures in scoring for just the second time this season, she gave the Dragons a lift on the boards, pulling down a team-high nine caroms.
At the 9:22 mark George Mason forced Drexel to commit its seventh foul and the Patriots were in the bonus for the duration. Fortunately for the Dragons, George Mason made just 5-of-13 free-throw attempts from that point. Rosseel helped push Drexel's seemingly precarious lead to 55-37 with a three-pointer and a short jumper from the right baseline. Hester capped the 18-9 run with a three-pointer from the top of the arc to give the Dragons their largest lead of the game, 61-40, and close out the victory.
Drexel returns home next week to take on Northeastern on Thursday, Jan. 17 in a 7:00 tilt at the DAC. The last time the two teams met the contested ended in a 98-90 Drexel win in an NCAA -record five overtime periods on Feb. 22, 2007.
