Women's Basketball Goes Inside for 58-46 Win at William and Mary

Sunday, January 20

Williamsburg, Va.

2:00 p.m.

Drexel University

12-4 (5-0CAA)

William & Mary

2-14 (0-5CAA)

Drexel

William & Mary

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Goes Inside for 58-46 Win at William and Mary

1/20/2013 3:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – For a second straight game, the Drexel women's basketball team utilized strong inside play when their outside shooting wasn't falling, riding big games by Taylor Wootton and Nicki Jones to a 58-46 win at William & Mary on Sunday afternoon. The Dragons moved to 5-0 in the Colonial Athletic Association for just the second time in program history, and the first time since 2007-08.

Wootton, who set a career high with 24 points in the Dragons' comeback win over Hofstra on Thursday, followed that up with 22 points against the Tribe (2-14, 0-5). Nicki Jones had her best offensive outing since a Drexel-high 20 at Vermont on December 1, finishing with 15 points on a perfect 7-for-7 afternoon from the floor. Hollie Mershon added 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Dragons (12-4, 5-0).

For a second straight game, the Dragons came out slow in the first half, falling behind 16-11 midway through the period. Although they went nearly five minutes without a field goal, the Dragons stayed close thanks to their typically staunch defense. Janine Aldridge scored 10 points in the first eight minutes of the game for William & Mary, but finished with 16 as the Dragons keyed on her the rest of the way.

The Dragons retook the lead with 2:27 remaining in the first half, when Jones hit a turnaround jumper from the middle of the key to make it 21-20. Wootton would follow with two mid-range jumpers in the final 70 seconds of the half, pushing the Dragons up 25-22 at the break.

Out of halftime, the Dragons scored the first five points of the second half and went on a 16-4 run overall to build a 41-26 lead. Drexel found a significant amount of success pounding the ball inside to Wootton and Jones, with the run capped by a three-pointer from Mershon.

Drexel led by as many as 18 in the second half, continuing to lock down William & Mary defensively to keep the Tribe from climbing back in the game. A late Tribe push cut the Drexel lead to 12 with 1:35 to play, but Mershon responded with two free throws to get the lead back up to 14. She was 6-for-6 from the line for a second straight game, moving into 14th place all-time on the Drexel scoring chart with her 14 points. Mershon now has 1,140, moving past Colleen (1,127) and Kitty (1,137) Dougherty.

The Dragons will head back on the road on Thursday as they look to move to 6-0 in the CAA for the first time in their history. They will visit Northeastern Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m.