Drexel University Athletics
Drexel University
Bucknell
Marginean Lifts Dragons to 44-35 Victory at Bucknell
11/25/2008 7:08:40 PM | Women's Basketball
Lewisburg, Pa. - Gabriela Marginean poured in 33 of Drexel's 44 points and also led her team with 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists in a 44-35 trampling of former ECC rival Bucknell (3-1) on the road. Freshmen Tyler Hale and Kamile Nacickaite each grabbed eight boards to contribute to Drexel's season-high 43-board effort. The Dragons improve to 2-2 on the season heading into this weekend's tournament at the University of Colorado.
Aside from Marginean's astounding performance, the story of the game was Drexel's defense against the Bison, who entered the game with a perfect 3-0 record which was the team's best start in more than two decades. The Dragons held Bucknell to 25.4 percent shooting from the floor and the Bison's 35 points was their lowest offensive output ever in a home game at Sojka Pavilion. Contributing in large part to the team's stifling defense was senior Brooke Cornish who swatted three shots for a second straight game. Nacickaite and Nicole Hester also had two blocks and Hale had one swat and two steals.
Marginean scored 17 of Drexel's 20 points in the first half, helping to keep the Dragons in a 20-20 tie at halftime despite shooting 26.7 percent from the floor and just 2-of-9 from deep. The only points other than Marginean's came from the hand of Nacickaite who knocked down a three from the corner with 4:24 left in the period to give Drexel a 18-13 lead.
Bucknell built its largest lead of the game early in the second half when a Le'Le' Leseur jumper made it a 24-20 Bison lead. But a pair of layups by Cornish pushed Drexel back into the lead just over four minutes into the half and the Dragons would not surrender that advantage for the duration.
The Bison were able to fight back and tie the game at 35-35 with 5:03 left in the game on a jumper by the team's leading scorer Amanda Brown. Marginean steadied her team with a pair of free-throws coming out of a timeout and Jasmina Rosseel followed them with a three-pointer to push the lead to five. From there Marginean took over on the defensive end, snaring steals on the next two Bucknell possessions that she also converted for four points from the free-throw line to ice the game for Drexel. Nicole Hester added an emphatic block with a minute and a half left to punctuate the Dragons' win.
With the 33-point output, Marginean becomes the first Dragon ever to score 30 points three times in one season. She will lead her team into the University of Colorado Coors Classic Tournament this weekend in Boulder, Colo. The Dragons will meet Minnesota at 7:00 p.m. EST on Friday, Nov. 28.
