Drexel University
Towson
Dragons Win CAA Regular-Season Championship Outright With 59-45 Win Over Towson
3/4/2009 9:32:31 PM | Women's Basketball
Towson, Md. – Gabriela Marginean led all scorers with 23 points as the Dragons closed out their first ever CAA regular-season championship with a 59-45 victory over the Towson Tigers. Drexel completed its 2008-09 regular season with a 21-8 overall mark and a 16-2 record in CAA play. The Dragons will enter next weekend's CAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed and face the winner of the opening-round match-up between Towson and Delaware. Andrea Peterson just missed her first career double-double, with nine points and a career-high nine boards. Freshman Marisa Crane led the Dragons with four assists and also pulled down seven rebounds. Fellow rookie Kamile Nacickaite chipped in 10 points, including two key three-pointers during the Dragons' comeback.
The Dragons overcame 13 first-half turnovers and a second period fraught with fouls to pull out their 21st win of the season. It is the second most wins ever for a Drexel team and the Dragons' 16 CAA victories is their new record for conference wins in a season.
In the second half, Drexel appeared to pull away to a comfortable lead with a 14-5 run early. But a flurry of whistles over the next five minutes left the Dragons deep in foul trouble and the Tigers in the double bonus with 7:21 left in the game. Marginean of hustled down a rebound and wound up in the Towson Center atrium as the teams opened a circus of crazed basketball over the next 30 seconds. Marginean returned to the melee just in time to get whistled for her fourth foul. She took a seat on the bench with Drexel on top 43-32.
Freshman forward Tyler Hale joined Marginean on the bench a minute later as the Tigers drew their 10th foul on Drexel. Towson was able to cut into the Dragons' lead with their leading scorer on the bench, using five straight points by Baker-Brice to make it a 45-38 game at the 6:05 mark.
This time Rosseel stilled her team with a three-pointer from the wing to push the Dragons' lead back to 10 points at 48-38. A technical foul on Alis Freeman, following a personal foul on the senior, sent Peterson to line for what equated to four free-throw attempts. Peterson sunk three of them, giving her team a 51-38 lead and enough breathing room to close out the game. While the Dragons did not make another field goal for the duration, a perpetual series of Towson fouls allowed Drexel to score 11 points from the charity stripe over the final 4:57.
The Dragons shot just 32 percent in the contest but they capitalized on 30 trips to the free-throw line, converting on 22 of the free tosses, 14 in the second half. Drexel outworked the Tigers on the boards 44-33 and 14-11 on the offensive glass.
Drexel escaped a ferocious Tigers' trapping defense in the first half to enter the locker room with a 29-25 lead despite committing 13 turnovers in the period. The Dragons took an early 8-2 lead, but Towson used a 14-1 run fueled by turnovers on six straight Drexel possessions to grab a 18-9 advantage at the 8:06 mark. Marginean, who scored 13 of her points in the half steadied her team with a driving layup, on which she was fouled and converted a three-point play, to regroup her team. Kamile Nacickaite and Jasmina Rosseel drained threes on successive possessions and the Dragons rallied for a 13-4 run that tied the game at 22-22 with five minutes left. The Dragons' defense forced a pair of late Tiger turnovers, on which they capitalized to take a four-point lead into the break.
The CAA Tournament commences play on Thursday, March 12 at the JMU Convocation Center in Harrisonburg, Va. The Dragons will see their first action on Friday, March 13 at noon when they face the winner of the opening-round game between Towson and Delaware.
