Marginean Becomes All-Time CAA Scoring Leader in 46-43 Win Over William & Mary

Thursday, January 7

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7:00

Drexel University

William & Mary

Marginean Becomes All-Time CAA Scoring Leader in 46-43 Win Over William & Mary

1/7/2010 9:34:09 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Philadelphia - Gabriela Marginean broke the all-time CAA scoring record en route to a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double and a 46-43 Drexel victory over William & Mary (8-5, 1-1). Marginean's milestone point came, appropriately, on a free-throw with 6:34 left in the first half. She surpassed the mark of 2,121 points set by Tamera Young in 2008. With the win, Drexel improves to 2-0 in conference play and 8-5 overall.

Marginean's free throw was the result of a technical foul on William & Mary head coach Debbie Taylor. The toss springboarded the Dragons during an 18-4 run that closed the half with Drexel leading 32-16. By the break Marignean had already amassed 14 points and six rebounds and the Dragons' smothering defense generated 10 Tribe turnovers and converted them into 16 points. Drexel shot 43.5 percent in the half and looked to have the game in hand.

But it was a different story in the second period when the Dragons went ice cold from the floor, shooting just 19.4 percent. Drexel expanded its lead to 18 points at the 18:16 mark in the half, but William & Mary would steadily whittle it away for the rest of the period.

A scoring drought of seven minutes and 44 seconds allowed the Tribe to make a 12-2 run and get the game within one point, 44-43, with 2:19 on the clock on a layup by Taysha Pye. The Tribe retained the lead with under a minute to play and a chance to take its first lead of the game. But the Dragons were able to tie up a loose ball and regain possession via the jump ball with 37.5 seconds left.

Drexel set up a play for Marginean on the right side. The newly minted leading scorer drove the lane and put up a contested shot that did not find its mark. She quickly snatched the offensive rebound and put up another shot in a thicket of Tribe bodies. Taylor Wootton gathered the offensive rebound and wisely kicked the ball out to Kamile Nacickaite to run down the clock. Nacickaite dribbled away from defenders before being double teamed and finding Marginean for a wide-open layup that gave Drexel its final 46-43 lead with 1.1 seconds on the clock

William & Mary was able to get a timeout, but Marginean was able to disrupt the reception of the inbounds pass enough to allow time to expire.

Drexel made just 6-of-31 shots in the second half and scored just four points in the final 12 and a half minutes of play. But The Dragons defense, led by a four-steal effort from Marisa Crane, helped to keep the victory from slipping away.

Marginean shot 7-for-8 from the line in a otherwise pedesterian 9-for-15 night from the stripe for a Drexel team that came into the game ranked first in the nation in free throw percentage. She made two free throws to tie Young's scoring record before knocking down the first of two free tosses after the technical foul.

Taysha Pye led the Tribe with 17 points and eight rebounds. William & Mary outrebounded Drexel 46-39 and 23-18 on the offensive glass. The Tribe also edged the Dragons in shooting on the game 31.1 percent to 29.6.

Marginean's double-double was her fifth of the season. She now has now scored 2,134 points in her career at Drexel.

The Dragons are back in action on Sunday, Jan. 10 when they travel to play at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va. at 2:00 p.m. in a rematch of last year's CAA Tournament semifinal.