Women's Basketball Can't Hold On Against Hampton, 50-47

Wednesday, December 18

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

4-6

Hampton

8-3

HAMPTON

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Can't Hold On Against Hampton, 50-47

12/18/2013 9:17:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - It was a tale of two halves for the Drexel women's basketball team on Wednesday night against Hampton. After taking a 14-point halftime lead, the Dragons could not get their offense started in the second half, scoring just 15 points and falling as the Lady Pirates completed its comeback, 50-47. The Dragons shot nearly 46 percent from the floor in the first half, but hit at just a 25.0 percent clip in the second. Rachel Pearson finished with 19 points, matching her career high.

Sarah Curran added 13 points for Drexel, which slipped to 4-6. Hampton (8-3) h ad three players in double figures led by Nicole Hamilton's 18. Fiona Flanagan finished with 10 rebounds for the Dragons, her third-career double-figure rebounding game. Jackie Schluth added nine rebounds, more than doubling her previous career high.

The Dragons got off to a hot start, taking a 9-4 lead thanks to a three-pointer from Fiona Flanagan and two from Pearson, the reigning Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week. Pearson would hit five of her first six attempts from long range, at one point outscoring the Lady Pirates on her own when she nailed her fourth trey to make it a 19-10 game with 8:20 remaining in the first half.

The largest lead of the night for Drexel came, appropriately enough, on a Pearson three-pointer which lifted the Dragons to a 30-14 cushion with just 2:03 remaining in the first half. Drexel would go into the break up by 14 at 32-18. Seventeen of Pearson's points came in that opening period, with Sarah Curran and Alexis Smith adding four apiece.

That three-pointer at the 2:03 mark would prove to be the last Drexel field goal for a long time, as it turned out. The Dragons opened the second half on a prolonged scoring drought, and would not score until Pearson drove in for a lay-up with 12:29 remaining. The Drexel defense had kept them in front, but Hampton had trimmed the lead by that point to just five until the Pearson bucket pushed the lead back to seven.

Hampton had several opportunities to seize control during the second half, but for the longest time seemed unable to get itself over the hump. The Lady Pirates finished the game just 2-for-22 from long range, and at one point late in the second half had just three second-chance points despite pulling down 21 offensive rebounds. They finished with six second-chance points off 22 offensive boards on the night. Hampton also was just 6-for-15 from the charity stripe, missing seven of its first eight.

Despite those missed opportunities, the Lady Pirates pulled even on a frenetic sequence with just over a minute to play. After Nicole Hamilton scored to get them within two with 1:20 to play, the Lady Pirates' Alyssa Bennett forced a turnover on the ensuing inbounds. Hampton got another Hamilton lay-in to tie things moments later, and then promptly stole yet another inbounds after that. That time, Malia Tate-DeFreitas was fouled and hit both free throws - the first time all night the Lady Pirates had knocked down two-straight from the line - to give Hampton its first lead since 2-0.

The Dragons tied things back up on their next possession when Curran backed into the paint and scored. The current CAA Rookie of the Week had nine of Drexel's 15 second-half points, and finished with 13 on the night. Hampton, however, had finally righted itself from the free throw line and hit three of its last four looks to push back out to a three-point lead at 50-47 with just under 13 seconds to play. The Dragons' last look, a long three-point attempt by Meghan Creighton, came up empty.

Drexel will return to action on Saturday afternoon when it visits nearby rival Penn at the Palestra. The Battle of 33rd Street will tip off at 2:00 p.m.