Women's Basketball Nets 20th Win, 58-42 at Northeastern

Wednesday, March 4

Boston, Mass.

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

20-9, 14-4CAA

Northeastern

4-24, 1-17CAA

Drexel

Northeastern

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Nets 20th Win, 58-42 at Northeastern

3/4/2015 9:05:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BOSTON – The Drexel women's basketball team won its 20th game on Wednesday night as the Dragons closed out the regular season with a typical defensive effort, holding down Northeastern 58-42. Drexel led nearly the entire way and extended its winning streak to six games, a streak it will take into next week's Colonial Athletic Association Championship.

Sarah Curran, celebrating her birthday, had 17 points to lead the Dragons. She was 6-for-12 from the floor including 3-for-5 from long range. Alexis Smith added 16 points. Jamila Thompson chipped in eight, all at the free throw line over the final 3:55 of play, to go along with eight assists and six rebounds.

The win marked the fifth time in Drexel's Division I program history that it has reached 20 victories in a season. The Dragons also finished the season 14-4 in CAA play, their second-most wins ever as a member of the conference.

In front of a vocal crowd of 507, the Dragons fell behind 5-0 early on before Rachel Pearson got them started with a three-pointer from the right corner. Drexel had no trouble getting open looks early on, but it took the Dragons a few minutes to start converting.

Soon enough, they did. And while Drexel was hitting six first-half three-pointers, it was also playing its typical lockdown defense on the other end of the court. After spotting Northeastern those five points, the Dragons held the Huskies off the scoreboard for the next 5:15. That would be the first of two separate stretches of more than five minutes without a point for Northeastern as Drexel went on a 19-3 run to grab a 19-8 lead. Pearson had a pair of three-pointers in that stretch, as did Sarah Curran. Florence Ouattara also knocked down a triple from the right wing to punctuate that burst.

The Huskies got a bucket with 6:36 to play, ending their drought of exactly 12 minutes with just one field goal. Alexis Smith responded with a three-pointer, but after Ouattara added a short jumper, the Huskies closed the half with a pair of three-pointers. Drexel went into the break ahead 26-17 as the teams combined to go 10-for-22 from long range in the first half, including 6-for-13 by the Dragons. Neither team was as efficient from inside the arc, with Northeastern hitting just two two-point field goals on 13 attempts.

Curran got the second half scoring started with her third three-pointer of the evening. It marked her third-career game with that many three-pointers, including two in the last four games. Though the Huskies briefly cut the lead to seven, Drexel responded with a Jackie Schluth bucket that keyed a 9-1 spurt for the Dragons. Smith knocked down another three-pointer and Kelsi Lidge scored all four of her points on the evening during that stretch as Drexel took what was, to that point, its largest lead at 40-25.

Ahead by 15 with 12:56 to play, the Dragons suddenly went cold from the floor. They had been shooting close to 50 percent to that point, but missed their next 12 shots as Northeastern slowly crawled its way back into the game. It was 40-34 before the Dragons got a short jumper from Smith to stop the bleeding with 4:28 to play. After Thompson hit her first free throw of the evening with 3:55 to play, Northeastern got as close as it had since it trailed 8-5. The Huskies hit a three-pointer, then stole the inbounds pass and converted an old-fashioned three-point play to make it a 43-40 Drexel lead.

Again, Smith stepped up. She drained her third three-pointer of the evening to make it 46-40 with 2:54 to play. Those were the first points in a game-ending 16-2 Drexel run, fueled primarily by the free throw shooting of Thompson and Smith, that helped the Dragons avert the crisis and pull away with the victory.

The Dragons will now enjoy their first extended time off since December as they await the beginning of the CAA Championships. The tournament will begin next Thursday at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md., but Drexel will not be in action until 5:00 p.m. Friday evening when it takes on the winner of Thursday's matchup between No. 7 Delaware and No. 10 Northeastern.