Dragons Hold Off George Mason 59-51

Thursday, January 21

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7:00

Drexel University

George Mason

1/21/2010 9:18:34 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Philadelphia - Gabriela Marginean proved to be the constant once again for the Dragons, leading all scorers with 26 points as Drexel (11-6, 5-1) held on for a 59-51 victory over George Mason (8-9, 1-5) . The win was the 16th straight CAA home game. Brittany Poindexter led the Patriots with 13 points and nine rebounds.

The Patriots pulled within three points with two and a half minutes left in the game, dispatching nearly all of Drexel's seven-point halftime lead. But Marginean settled her team from the line by knocking down six straight free throws while drawing the quick fouls from George Mason in the final minute and a half.

Drexel shot a consistent 46.8 percent from the floor and edged Mason, who shot 36.4 percent and was 3-of-10 from deep. This was due to the preponderance of available layups for the Dragons, who curled around and slipped behind a dizzying amount of screens to open themselves for layups in the lane. Drexel outscored Mason in the paint 34-18.

What kept the Patriots in the game for its entirety was their rebounding. Mason pulled down 37 boards to Drexel's 29 overall. More importantly, they dominated the offensive glass 15-4 and converted the extra opportunities into 18 points.

This offensive opportunity was most evident when Hollie Mershon slipped a pair of screens for back-door layups in the span of a minute and 20 seconds. She sandwiched the buckets around a Rosseel three-pointer during a 7-2 Drexel run that put the Dragons on top 39-32 at the 12:04 mark in the second half.

The contest was tied six times in the first half and the Patriots had a chance to take the lead as late as a minute and a half left. But Drexel received three unanswered layups by Marginean, Nacickaite and Rosseel in the last 1:23 of the period to take a 28-21 lead into the break.

Marginean and Nacickaite combined to put in 21 of Drexel's 28 first-half points. Nacickaite would finish the contest as Drexel's second leading scorer with 12 points and she was one of three Dragons to pull down five rebounds in the game.

Drexel will be back at home on Sunday, Jan. 24 to take on the CAA-leading Rams of Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU staved off its first CAA loss of the season with a last-second three-pointer by D'Andra Moss to defeat Delaware on Thursday night. The Dragons will tip it up with the Rams at noon in a game that will be televised live on The Comcast Network.