Drexel University
Towson
Dragons Fall In Overtime Heartbreaker, 57-52, at Towson
1/24/2008 9:13:24 PM | Women's Basketball
Towson, Md. - Drexel's nine-game winning streak came to an end in overtime at Towson. The Tigers pulled out a 57-52 win in a game that was a defensive struggled throughout. Gabriela Marginean led the Dragons with 15 points. She knocked down two free-throws with 28 seconds to tie the game and had a key steal with four seconds left in regulation that helped send it into overtime. Delise Johnson came up with countless big plays down the stretch including two free-throws that helped send the game into overtime. She finished with eight points and eight boards, five of them on the offensive glass. The Dragons drop to 10-7 and 5-1 in conference play, it is the team's first loss for Drexel since Dec. 8, 2007.
Marginean's game-tying free-throws were set up by the hustle of the Dragons on the boards. Narissa Suber missed a three-pointer from the corner and Johnson pulled down the rebound, she missed a put-back shot and the rebound was tipped out to the fou line. Marginean grabbed the ball and held on while a host of Towson defenders attempted to extract it from her grasp until the foul was called. Marginean converted both ends of the one-and-one to knot the game at 42-42 with 28 seconds remaining.
Towson's Shanae Baker-Brice brought the ball up the court with the shot clock turned off. She crossed half court and initiated the play with 10 seconds on the clock, but as she passed the ball to a teammate on the wing, Marginean charged into the passing lane and took the ball away. She sprinted through three Tiger defenders on the way to the basket, but one caught her from behind just as she was going up for the layup, knocking the ball out of bounds with four seconds on the clock. On the ensuing inbound play the Dragons got the ball to Johnson on the left block under the basket. She put up a shot that missed its mark and grabbed her own rebound. Her second offering caromed high off the backboard but did not fall in as the clock expired sending the game into overtime.
The Tigers struck first in the extra period on a layup by Kandace Davis. Johnson evened the score on a put-back off another offensive rebound. Towson pulled ahead with a three-pointer by Alis Freeman and did not led the Dragons back into the game. Marginean was whistled for her fifth foul with 1"28 on the clock on a blocking foul away from the ball. Towson made 4-of-4 free-throws in the final 26 seconds to take a 55-49 lead. But the Dragons would not give up, as Hester knocked down a three-pointer to make it a 55-52 contest with 11.7 left. Towson got a break-away layup when Baker-Brice sprinted away from the Dragons pressure defense on the inbound play, giving the Tigers their final margin of victory.
While Towson established itself early with full-court defensive pressure, the Dragons adjusted and trailed by just five points, 26-21, at halftime despite committing 11 turnovers in the opening period. Drexel used good team defense to neutralize Towson's speedy guards. The Tigers were whistled for four fouls in the first half and three of them were offensive charging fouls taken by the Dragons' defense.
After trailing 9-2 through the first six minutes of play, the Dragons launched into a run fueled by the shooting of Hester and Marginean to take an 12-11 lead at the 8:36 mark on a layup by Brooke Cornish. A wild bank-shot three-pointer at the end of the shot clock took the lead back for Towson, but the Dragons would not be deterred. Another layup by Cornish off a feed in across the post by Marginean and a pair of jumpers by Narissa Suber and Stacy McCullough gave the lead back to the Dragons, 21-20 with 4:14 left.
Drexel held Towson without a point for just over five minutes during their run. But the Tigers soon took back the advantage on a jumpers by Baker-Brice and Holly Mahan. Mahan's jumper at the 2:28 mark were the first points of the game for the Tigers' leading scorer.
Towson outscored Drexel 15-10 in the extra period after scoring just 16 points in the second stanza. Drexel outrebounded the Tigers but shot 40 percent from the floor for the first time in 10 games. Drexel outrebounded the Tigers 31-29 and 12-8 on the offensive glass. Drexel's 20 turnovers was the most for the Dragons all season. Drexel's streak ends as the second longest in school history and the team's 5-1 mark remains the best start in conference play since the 1989-90 season when the team won 13 straight conference games.
Next up for the Dragons is William & Mary. The Tribe comes to the DAC this Sunday for a 1:00 p.m. tip.
