Women's Basketball Rolls to 56-43 Win at Auburn in WNIT Quarterfinal

Saturday, March 30

Auburn, Ala.

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

26-10

Auburn

19-15

Drexel

Auburn

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Rolls to 56-43 Win at Auburn in WNIT Quarterfinal

3/30/2013 9:19:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

AUBURN, Ala. – The Drexel women's basketball team has set records all season with its defense, and on Saturday night in the WNIT quarterfinals, the Dragons may have played their best defensive game of the season. Drexel went to Auburn and defeated the Tigers, 56-43, earning a trip to the WNIT semifinals. Drexel did not trail during the final 34:44 of the game.

The Dragons held Auburn to just 27.4 percent shooting for the night. The Tigers were held without a field goal over the final 11:13 of the first half, a period that saw the Dragons stretch their lead from two points to 18, at the time the largest lead at any point in the four tournament games for Drexel. Auburn managed just one point from the free throw line during that stretch. The Tigers did themselves no favors at the charity stripe, where they were 6-for-17 (35.3 percent) for the night.

Hollie Mershon led all scorers with 19 points, moving her past Barbara Yost and into fifth place all-time on the Drexel scoring chart with 1,559 in her career. She added seven assists and 13 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. Fiona Flanagan contributed 13 points, including a big three-pointer with 2:35 to play that ended any hope of an Auburn comeback after the Tigers had cut the Dragons' lead to 12. Taylor Wootton added 12 points.

The game did not look like it would belong in the Drexel defensive scrap book off the bat. Auburn, which held a distinct size advantage over the Dragons, scored the game's first five points in the first 1:21 of play. Blanche Alverson got the scoring started with a three-pointer from the left wing, followed by a lay-up by Tyrese Tanner. That duo would provide the majority of the offense for Auburn throughout the night, as Tanner finished with 16 points and Alverson added 15.

Drexel quickly righted itself with a 10-0 run that gave the Dragons a lead they would not relinquish. Flanagan put Drexel on the board with a three-pointer from the corner, and Mershon tied things up with a short jumper. Wootton followed with a putback to give Drexel a 7-5 lead, and forty seconds later, Renee Johnson-Allen squared up a trey from left side that put Drexel up 10-5.

Auburn fought back into the game, and pulled back within two points when Alverson buried a three-pointer with 11:13 to play, making it 13-11 Dragons. That would be the last field goal Auburn would manage in the first half.

With its defense, which already ranked among the ten best in the NCAA, clamping down on the Tigers, Drexel rattled off the next nine points before Auburn hit a free throw with 4:23 to play in the half. Drexel responded with eight more points heading into halftime, capped by a three-pointer from Rachel Pearson.

The second half had a similar start to the first, with Auburn knocking down the period's first six points and forcing a timeout call by Drexel head coach Denise Dillon. Leading 30-18, Drexel got itself steadied with a bucket from Johnson-Allen, who drove the baseline and scooped in a lay-up. Johnson-Allen finished with five points and five rebounds to go along with two steals.

Although the Tigers were able to score more efficiently in the second half than the first, they still struggled from the floor, and Drexel controlled the glass. The Dragons held a rebounding advantage for most of the night, and pulled down 41 boards to tie their season high. Mershon led the team with her 13 boards, and Meghan Creighton added six, tying the personal best she set on Thursday night at Bowling Green.

Drexel grabbed its biggest lead of the night with 7:45 to play when Flanagan knocked down a jumper to make it 47-26. From there, the Tigers began to claw their way back. They scored 11 of the next 13 points, cutting Drexel's lead to 49-37 with 3:02 remaining.

As they did throughout the night, the Dragons had an answer. After a timeout, Mershon found Flanagan open in the left corner. The junior sharpshooter nailed her third three-pointer of the night, pushing the lead back up to 15 and effectively ending Auburn's comeback.

With the win, Drexel earned its first-ever win over a Southeastern Conference opponent. The Dragons are also the last CAA women's basketball team standing after Delaware was defeated by Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament and James Madison by Florida in the WNIT earlier in the day in a de facto CAA/SEC Challenge.

The Dragons' reward for their victory is a date with those Gators on Wednesday night in the WNIT semifinals. That game will be held at the Daskalakis Athletic Center at 7:00 p.m., and will be the first-ever Drexel basketball game played in the month of April. Florida has won all four of its WNIT games on the road, winning at Florida International, Winthrop and Charlotte before Saturday afternoon's 85-80 win at James Madison. For tickets to the Dragons' matchup with Florida, visit www.DrexelTickets.com or call 1-866-4-DREXEL.