Seahawks' Second-Half Rally Knocks Dragons From CAA Tournament

Friday, March 11

Upper Marlboro, Md.

7:30 p.m.

Drexel University

UNC Wilmington

Seahawks' Second-Half Rally Knocks Dragons From CAA Tournament

3/11/2011 9:54:21 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Upper Marlboro, Md. - Drexel saw a seven-point second-half lead dissipate during a span of four minutes in the second half as UNC Wilmington (23-7) rallied for a 63-51 victory in the quarterfinals of the CAA Tournament. Kamile Nacickaite led all scorers with 22 points but the Dragons (19-11) made just one shot from the field in the final 7:21 to exit the tournament in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row. Alisha Andrews led UNCW with 21 points.

The Dragons' zone defense effectively shadowed UNCW's tandem of All-CAA post players, Brittany Blackwell and Martha White, containing them to a combined 15 points. But as the zone packed itself into the paint, the Seahawks' guards rose to to the challenge. Andrews (21), Kristen Hanzer (13) and Jessica Freeman (12) combined to score 46 of the team's 63 points and knock down eight three-pointers.

Nacickaite was the lone Dragon in double figures but the game saw several key contributions from Fiona Flanagan coming off the bench. She matched her career high with eight points on 3-for-4 shooting. She made two key three-pointers and played excellent defense. Jasmina Rosseel and Hollie Mershon led the team with three assists apiece.

Drexel led 28-24 at halftime and pushed that advantage to 33-26 in the opening minutes of the second half. But after a hot start, the Dragons cooled to shoot 32 percent in the half which allowed the Seahawks to claw their way back into the contest.

UNC Wilmington employed full-court pressured and collapsed into a zone defense, which served to disrupt Drexel enough to pull off a 10-3 run and give the game its first tie of the second half, 36-36, on a pair of Kristen Hanzer free throws.

Nacickaite quickly reclaimed the lead for Drexel with a jumper in the paint. Fiona Flanagan also did her best to slow the Seahawks run by draining a baseline three-pointer minutes later to put Drexel back on top 41-39 after a three-point play by Brittany Blackwell momentarily gave UNCW the lead.

Drexel would hit shots to tie the game twice more over the next four minutes, but the Dragons were never able to reclaim the lead from that point.

The pivotal sequence of events that sealed the Seahawks win started with an offensive rebound and a put-back by Martha White off a missed three-pointer by Jessica Freeman. After a layup attempt by Taylor Wootton circled the rim but refused to fall, Andrews knocked down a three from the top of the arc to give the Seahawks a six-point lead with 5:35 to play. Seconds later, a steal by Blackwell at the top of the key led to an Andrews layup and an eight-point advantage for UNCW.

Nacickaite's driving jumper in the lane with 1:11 left was the Dragons only bucket in the last 7:21 of the game. It cut the lead to six points, 57-51, but that was as close as Drexel would get in the waning moments of the loss.

The Dragons survived an opening punch by the Seahawks that saw them fall into a 10-2 deficit within the first five minutes of play. Drexel coughed up the ball nine times under the pressure of UNC Wilmington's man-to-man defense.

But the momentum of the game pivoted when UNC Wilmington Head Coach Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, the CAA Coach of the Year, picked up a technical foul midway through the half. The Seahawks switched to a zone defense and the Dragons capitalized for a 12-0 run that put them on top 15-13 at the 8:25 mark on a three-pointer by Mershon.

Drexel's zone defense would deny the Seahawks dual-threat forwards in the post, holding White and Blackwell to six points in the half. And limited UNCW to a scoreless span ot 6:34 while mounting an 18-13 lead.

Andrews kept her team in the game by knocking down four threes against the zone. Drexel held a slim 28-24 lead at the break. Nacickaite led the Dragons with 10 points, while Andrews scored all 12 of her team-leading total on 4-for-9 shooting from deep.

Drexel finshes its 2010-11 season with a winning record for the fourth year in a row. The team set its single-season mark for three-pointers and posted its best non-conference record of the Denise Dillon coaching era going 8-3 before the start of CAA play.