Women's Basketball Slowed at Princeton, 59-43

Wednesday, November 19

Princeton, N.J.

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

1-1

Princeton

3-0

Drexel

PRINCETON

Photo by: Ryan Samson

Women's Basketball Slowed at Princeton, 59-43

11/19/2014 8:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PRINCETON, N.J. – Things got off to a good start for the Drexel women's basketball team at Princeton on Wednesday night, but the good times did not last for long as the host Tigers stormed back to defeat the Dragons, 59-43. The Dragons fell to 1-1 on the season, the fourth-straight year they have sported that record through the season's first two games.

Rachel Pearson led the Dragons with 15 points, her first double digit output of the young season after reaching double figures 15 times last year.

The Dragons started off hot, building a lead of as much as seven right out of the gate. Drexel led 9-2 and 13-6. In losing the previous five years to the Tigers, Drexel had never led by more than six in any of those games. Rachel Pearson had five points in the early run and 10 in the first half.

Despite the Dragons' quick start, Princeton came back. The Tigers evened the score at 15 on a Blake Dietrick three-pointer. After Pearson nailed her second three-pointer of the game to put Drexel back on top, the Tigers scored 15 of the final 19 points of the first half to take a 30-22 lead into intermission.

Things got no better after halftime. Princeton came out of the half on an 8-2 run to extend its lead to 38-24. The Tigers never looked back, leading by as many as 20 with 5:25 to play, 54-34. During the Tigers' run, the Dragons had trouble getting into its offense, going cold from the floor. Drexel was stifled on the interior and committed several turnovers that appeared to give Princeton fast break opportunities. Though the Tigers made up for it by shooting 40.0 percent from the floor and pulling down 17 offensive rebounds, Drexel did an excellent job getting back on defense after the turnovers. The Tigers were stopped on six fast break opportunities that appeared to be easy scoring chances, but led to Drexel regaining possession.

Pearson's 15 points led all scorers, equaling the 15 points put up by Princeton's Alex Wheatley. Alexis Smith scored six off the bench for Drexel including four in their early spurt to take the lead. No one else scored more than four, although Florence Ouattara, making her first appearance after redshirting last year, notched her first collegiate points with a three-pointer on her only field goal attempt of the evening. Jackie Schluth led the Dragons with seven rebounds, two off her career high.

The game took just 1:28 to play, with only 20 total fouls called between the two teams.

The Dragons will get back to work on Saturday afternoon when they return to the Daskalakis Athletic Center to host Colgate at 2:00 p.m. Drexel will be looking to avenge a loss to the Raiders suffered last season on the road. The game is the second of three home games Drexel will play in the month of November.