Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
Saint Joseph's
Marginean, Dragons Surge Past Saint Joseph's, 76-61, in Home Opener
11/20/2008 2:45:24 PM | Women's Basketball
Philadelphia - Gabriela Marginean (Cluj-Napoca, Romania/Mt. de Chantal Academy) reached the 30-point mark for a second straight game while helping Drexel to its second win in the last three meetings over city rival Saint Joseph's. Drexel (1-1) trailed by as many as 10 points before outscoring the Hawks (1-2) 44-26 in the second half for a 76-61 victory. Jasmina Rosseel (Leper, Belgium/Sint-Theresia Instituut) chipped in 16 points on 4-for-7 seven three-point shooting and freshman Kamile Nacickaite (Siauliai, Lithuania/Regis Jesuit) led the Dragons with eight rebounds.
Marginean was once again a force for the Dragons, scoring 35 points on 13-for-22 shooting from the field. She also grabbed six boards and went 8-for-9 from the line with her first free-throw miss this season. The Dragons, as a team shot 50-percent from the floor. The team's defense held Saint Joseph's to 7-for-23 shooting in the second period when the Dragons pulled away for the victory.
After a sloppy start, Drexel dissipated what had been a 10-point Saint Joseph's advantage midway through the first half and took a pair of short-lived leads before entering the half trailing 35-32. The Hawks opened the second period with another quick start, going on a 5-0 run to take a 41-32 lead on a layup by leading scorer Brittany Ford.
Ford's bucket would be the last field goal the Hawks would see go through their net for the next 11-plus minutes, however. During this time, Drexel opened up its offense and reeled off a 21-1 run. A pair of Marginean free-throws capped the spurt and gave the Dragons a commanding 60-45 lead, the team's largest of the game. Rosseel drilled a three-pointer from beyond the freshly laid men's three-point line and Marginean followed it with 11 straight points to close out the Drexel surge.
Saint Joseph's would chip away at the 15-point Drexel advantage from the free-throw line. The Hawks shot a total of 30 free tosses in the game, 17 in the second half alone with 12 of them coming in the final nine minutes of play. The Hawks got it to a four-point game at 63-57 with under four minutes to play. But freshman Marisa Crane (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) hit a towering three-pointer from the left wing at the 2:17 mark to keep the Dragons in control of the game. Rosseel closed out the victory in emphatic fashion by draining a three-pointer from the corner coming out of a speedy press break by the Dragons with 50 seconds remaining.
Drexel's victory was the second in its last three meetings with the Hawks and the second straight over Saint Joseph's in the DAC. Drexel will face another Philadelphia foe this weekend as the Dragons travel to play at La Salle on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 1:00 p.m.
