Women's Basketball Drops CAA Opener 69-61 at UNC Wilmington

Sunday, January 2

Wilmington, N.C.

1:00

Drexel University

UNC Wilmington

Women's Basketball Drops CAA Opener 69-61 at UNC Wilmington

1/2/2011 2:51:20 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Wilmington, N.C. – Drexel fell behind early in and never recovered in a 69-61 loss at UNC Wilmington in its conference opener. The Dragons wrapped up a span of three games in five days and five straight road contests, falling to 8-4 overall and 0-1 in CAA play. Kristen Hanzer scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half and nine in the final eight minutes to help UNC Wilmington hold off a late charge by the Dragons.

UNCW shot 64.4 percent in the game, including a 16-for-24 performance in the second half. Hanzer was one of four Seahawks in double-figures, Jessica Freeman led the team with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

Taylor Wootton pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds for the Dragons, who outrebounded UNCW 38-24 and 19-2 on the offensive glass. The Dragons converted their opportunities into 17 second-chance points but the Seahawks dominated the paint, outscoring Drexel 40-18 in the lane.

Jasmina Rosseel and Hollie Mershon each chipped in 12 points, with Mershon also pulling down a career-best nine rebounds.

Drexel turned the ball over 19 times against the CAA's leader in steals as a team. The Dragons shot just 35 percent from the floor and 11-for-26 from three-point range.

The Seahawks led by as much as 14 points in the half as Drexel struggled to get stops defensively. A breakaway layup from Jessica Freeman at the 9:15 mark put UNCW on top 55-41.

Drexel's offensive rebounding kept them in the contest and allowed the Dragons to chisel the lead down to five points with just under four minutes to play. Nacickaite's three-pointer from the top of the arc trimmed the margin to 58-51. Taylor Wootton followed a miss by Nacickaite on the next possession to draw the score to 58-53 with 3:58 on the clock.

A three-pointer from Rosseel with 1:32 on the clock made it a six-point game at 64-58, but Hanzer, who scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half burned the Dragons with a backdoor layup to push the Seahawks' lead back to eight points.

Another Rosseel catch-and-shoot three-pointer brought the game within five points, 66-61, and the Seahawks obligingly missed the front end of a pair of one-and-one free-throw opportunities. But Drexel could not convert on the other end as a three by Rosseel and a layup by Hale caromed wide and the Seahawks held on for the win.

UNC Wilmington led 31-26 at halftime after shooting nearly 62 percent from the floor in the opening stanza. The Seahawks made seven of their first eight shots to open up a 13-5 lead in the early minutes of play.

Drexel twice pulled within two points, once on a baseline jumper by Nacickaite and again on a backdoor layup by Mershon with six and a half minutes to play. But UNCW closed out the half on a layup by Blackwell, who led the team with eight points at the break, to hold a five-point margin at halftime.

Nacickaite led Drexel at the break with 11 points, including three of the team's four three-pointers. Rosseel got off to a chilly shooting start, missing her first five three-point attempts before finding the bottom of the net with a minute and a half left. She finished 1-for-7 from long range in the half.

Drexel returns home to play a pair of CAA games this week against Georgia State on Jan. 6 and regional rival Delaware on Sunday, Jan. 9.