Drexel University
William & Mary
Crane's Last-Second Shot Beats William & Mary in Overtime
2/8/2009 3:38:28 PM | Women's Basketball
Philadelphia - Freshman Marisa Crane hit a pull-up jumper in the lane with two seconds left in overtime to give her team a 76-74 victory over William & Mary (11-11, 4-7). The Dragons (14-8, 9-2) erased a five-point deficit with less than three minutes left in regulation when a free throw by Gabriela Marginean knotted the score at 66-66 with 12.6 seconds remaining. Marginean, who finished with 31 points and 10 rebounds, scored eight of Drexel's 10 points in overtime. The win was Drexel's sixth straight and keeps the Dragons in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association with a 9-2 record.
Following a pair of free throws by Taysha Pye, who led the Tribe with 18 points, Drexel trailed by five points with just 1:37 left in overtime. But the relentless Dragons battled back as Tyler Hale threaded a bounce pass to a cutting Marginean for a layup and a foul with 1:22 left. Marginean converted the three-point play to make it a 74-72 William & Mary lead. After a missed jumper by Pye, Marginean found room in the lane for a pull-up jumper that knotted the game at 74 points apiece.
The Dragons came up with another defensive stop on a driving layup attempt by Pye, whose drives had tormented Drexel for the entire game, and took possession of the ball with 32 seconds left on the clock. Andrea Peterson brought the ball up court to key a play for Marginean that would be the last shot of the game. But the Tribe countered with double-team defense to smother the game's leading scorer and the ball, instead, ended up in the hands of Crane. The rookie used a crossover and her quickness to beat her defender to the lane and, once open she pulled up and sunk the biggest shot of her young career with two seconds left on the clock.
Drexel's trap on the ensuing inbounds play by William & Mary produced a lose ball. Marginean pounced on the play to tie it up and draw a jump ball, giving her team the possession and the victory. Marginean scored seven of her team's final nine points in regulation, including a clutch free-throw with 12.6 seconds left to knot the game at 66-66 and send it into overtime. Her 31-point, 10 rebound double-double was the 19th of her career.
Jasmina Rosseel was the Dragons' second-leading scorer with 13 points in the contest. She knocked down three three-pointers, which moved her into sole possession of fourth place on Drexel's career three-pointers list. Rosseel and Crane each had three steals in the game as well.
William & Mary received double-figure scoring from Pye (18), Courtney Portell (17) and Tiffany Benson (11). Benson, who was held to just one point in the first half, compiled her 12th double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Portell knocked down five three-pointers in the game, four of which came in the second half and overtime, to lead the Tribe's rally.
Drexel led 29-26 at halftime after building a lead as large as seven points in the period. The Dragons post defense on Benson, who lit it up for 24 points in the teams' meeting earlier this season, pestered the sophomore into 0-for-7 shooting from the floor. While Benson finished the half with just one point, her team hung close to the Dragons thanks to timely three-point shooting and a chilly shooting performance by Drexel.
Rosseel came out of the locker room shooting in the second half. She scored the Dragons' first eight points of the period on a mid-range jumper and two three-pointers. The Tribe answered every basket, however, as the game leapt to a frenetic pace that was outside of the Dragons' comfort zone.
Portell keyed a 12-2 William & Mary run with the first of three three-pointers in the half. Point guard Katy Oblinger capped the spurt with a three from the top of the arc to give her team its first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 48-45, at the 11:17 mark. After missing her first seven shots in the game, Benson opened the second half going 3-for-3 from the floor. Her third twisting layup gave William & Mary a six-point lead with just over eight minutes to play.
With the game hanging in the balance, senior Nicole Hester shot her team back into contention with a three-pointer from the right elbow to halve the Tribe's advantage with 6:30 left. The Tribe countered with a three-point play by Benson and Portell's third three of the period to push its lead to seven points, 64-57, with 3:48 left.
Drexel employed a trapping defense to pressure the Tribe into a turnover following a Marginean jumper. Crane popped into the passing lane to poach an Oblinger pass at half court, setting up another basket by Marginean that trimmed the margin to three points with 2:20 to go. After a missed layup by Benson, Marginean drove the lane and found Kamile Nacickaite open off a double-team for a layup that made it a 64-63 William & Mary lead.
With 24 seconds left and her team down three points, Marginean drove her way into the lane and under her defender to roll in a layup which made the score 66-65. The Dragons thought they had a golden opportunity when a trapping Peterson deflected Oblinger's pass and Drexel came up with the steal with 20 seconds left. But just as the Dragons gained possession, Oblinger fell to the floor and Peterson was whistled for a foul. Fortuntely for Drexel, she missed the front end of the ensuing one-and-one and with 12 seconds left Marginean drew the foul that would allow her to knock down the game-tying free-throw to keep her team alive.
The victory salvaged a split with William & Mary in the season series. The Tribe outshot Drexel in the second half, knocking down 48.4 percent of its shots, including seven of its first 10 attempts. The Dragons shot 41.5 percent in the game after getting off to a cold shooting start in the first period. William & Mary also outworked Drexel on the boards 41-35. The tightly contested game was tied eight times and the teams exchanged the lead six times.
Drexel will defend its lead in the CAA against conference power Old Dominion on Thursday when the Lady Monarchs come to the DAC for a 7:00 p.m. tip.
