Women's Basketball Clinches Top Three Seed with 54-51 Win Over Elon

Friday, February 27

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

18-9, 12-4

Elon

16-11, 9-7

Elon

DREXEL

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Clinches Top Three Seed with 54-51 Win Over Elon

2/27/2015 9:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Drexel women's basketball team held on for a 54-51 win over Elon on Friday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, clinching no worse than the No. 3 seed in the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association Tournament in the process. The Dragons led the entire second half, but saw a 10-point lead slip down to one with just 19 seconds remaining before holding on for their fourth straight win.

Sarah Curran scored 17 points to lead all scorers. Thirteen of those came after halftime as she helped power the Dragons down the stretch. Rachel Pearson added 12 points and Florence Ouattara chipped in 10 as the Dragons shot 45.2 percent for the game and hit five of 10 three-pointers. Alexis Smith, making her first-career start at the DAC, had eight points and five rebounds to go along with a career-high six assists. She turned the ball over just once, although Drexel had 14 giveaways as a team.

The win ensures that Drexel (18-9, 12-4) will be playing in the night session on the Friday at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md. The Dragons, who currently sit a game ahead of Hofstra for second place in the CAA, can finish no worse than third in the league. They are now three games clear of fourth-place Elon (16-11, 9-7) with two remaining on both teams' schedules.

Elon held a 9-5 lead early in the contest when Florence Ouattara drove to the hoop and flipped up a shot which bounced in as a foul was called. She finished the three-point play, pulling the Dragons back within a point and sparking a 10-0 Drexel run. Ouattara notched eight points in the flurry, including a step-back three-pointer to cap it off with 11:55 remaining, giving the Dragons a 15-9 cushion and prompting an Elon timeout.

Though Drexel's defense remained staunch, the Dragons went cold from the floor following the stoppage. Drexel had just two points over the next eight minutes before Curran hit two free throws to tie things back up after Elon had taken a brief 19-17 lead. Pearson, who had been effectively denied on the outside, was able to break free for a curl and got the roll on a lay-up to put Drexel back ahead. She added a mid-range jumper to provide the halftime margin, 23-19. Elon was held scoreless over the final 4:12 of the half.

After scoring the last four Drexel points of the first half, Pearson came out clicking on all cylinders to start the second. The junior, who had been held to just seven points over the last two games after reaching double figures in nine in a row, had eight points in the first 7:09 of the second half. She got the Dragons' scoring started after halftime with a three-pointer from the right wing, giving them a five-point lead. After Elon slashed it back to two, Pearson got the lead right back to five with a trey from the left corner. That gave her 10 points on the evening and 752 in her career, the first active Dragon to reach that career milestone.

Curran would follow Pearson's three with one of her own at the 16:46 mark. After a stop on the defensive end, Jackie Schluth entered the scoring column by driving to the hoop and dropping in a lay-up, giving the Dragons their largest lead of the night at 35-25. Schluth finished the evening with six points and four rebounds.

Elon would not go quietly, and though Drexel was still on top by seven with 5:19 remaining, the Phoenix had another charge in it. Malaya Johnson had an opportunity for a three-point play with 4:09 to play, but her free throw miss worked out nicely for Elon in the end as Sam Coffer wrapped around her defender for the offensive rebound and a scooping putback, turning a six-point deficit into just a two-point Drexel lead.

The Dragons got a bit of karmic retribution on the next possession, when Elon played excellent defense and nearly forced a shot clock violation by Drexel. Instead, the ball found its way into Smith's hands. The sophomore hurried a jumper just inside the three-point line as the clock ticked down. It rattled home to push the Drexel lead back to four.

Stops on both ends put the ball back in Elon's hands with 2:09 to play, where Jenifer Rhodes drove and scored to make it 51-49. After a timeout, the Dragons went cold from the floor but got two enormous offensive rebounds from Kelsi Lidge, one as she fell out of bounds and saved the ball to a teammate. Though they would get just one point from the free throw line out of the possession, Drexel burned nearly 90 seconds of clock before taking a 52-49 lead with 43 seconds remaining.

Elon made it a one-point game with 19 seconds to play on a Rhodes putback. After a foul, Curran stepped to the line and knocked down both of her free throws with 13 seconds remaining, putting Drexel up by three, 54-51. The Phoenix got one last chance, and had two decent looks at three-pointers with the clock winding down, but their last-second shot hit the side of the backboard and fell out of bounds as the horn blew and Drexel claimed the victory.

The Dragons will conclude their regular season home schedule on Sunday afternoon as they honor their seniors and host Towson at 3:00 p.m. The game, which will be televised by the American Sports Network and will air locally on Comcast SportsNet, will be preceded by the annual Senior Day ceremony where Jamila Thompson and Jackie Schluth will be recognized for their contributions to the Drexel women's basketball program. Drexel will be attempting to sweep the season series from the Tigers for a fifth consecutive year.