Women's Basketball Wins Fifth Straight in 47-43 Grinder Over Delaware

Sunday, January 31

Daskalakis Athletic Center

5:00 p.m.

Drexel University

11-9, 7-2

Delaware

10-10, 5-4

Delaware

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Wins Fifth Straight in 47-43 Grinder Over Delaware

1/31/2016 7:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Two days after putting together one of its best offensive performances of the season to defeat first-place Hofstra, the Drexel women's basketball team fell back on its defense on Sunday afternoon to defeat Delaware and sweep the regular season series from the Blue Hens for a second-consecutive season, 47-43. The win was the fifth in a row for the Dragons, who have won the last four by a combined 12 points.

Drexel's five-game winning streak is its longest of the season and its longest since winning six in a row from Feb. 15 through Mar. 4, 2015. The Dragons are now 11-9 on the season and 7-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association, sitting just a half game behind first-place James Madison.

Sarah Curran scored 16 points to lead all scorers, putting up 11 of those points after halftime. Curran was the offensive force for Drexel after halftime, when the Dragons scored just 19 points overall but held the Blue Hens to 20 to keep the lead. The first half belonged to Rachel Pearson, who netted 11 of her 13 points as Drexel built as much as an 11-point lead in the opening half. Jessica Pellechio also scored 11 points, two of which came after she reeled in a clutch rebound following Delaware free throw misses with four seconds to play.

That trio provided the bulk of the offense, with Meghan Creighton dishing out six assists and scoring three, but the Dragons also go impressive interior defense from graduate student forward Jackie Schluth. She set a career high with five blocks, moving into the Drexel all-time top-five in that category with 66 in her career. Schluth also pulled in five rebounds, tops on the team, while scoring a pair. Alexis Smith added two points to round out the Drexel scoring line.

Drexel's offensive outburst from Friday continued early on, as the Dragons shot 50 percent from the floor (7-for-14) in the first quarter and stormed out to a 16-8 lead. They had been ahead 14-3 before Delaware got going, hitting two of its three field goals in the period in the final two minutes. Rachel Pearson drained a pair of three-pointers and had eight total points in the first quarter, with Jessica Pellechio adding four. Three of Jackie Schluth's five blocks were accumulated in the opening quarter.

The second quarter did not get off to the same robust start for Drexel's offense. The Dragons got their first points of the period nearly halfway through when Meghan Creighton drained a three-pointer at the 5:38 mark. That put Drexel back on top, 19-18, after the Blue Hens had slowly erased the eight-point deficit facing them at the start of the period, and taken a two-point lead. Though Delaware would never lead by more than two points, that drought at the beginning of the second quarter brought on a back-and-forth affair for much of the rest of the evening.

After Pearson erased a one-point Drexel deficit to give the Dragons a 25-23 lead with 1:40 to play in the first half, the teams traded misses until Pellechio stepped into a three-pointer at the buzzer, providing a five-point halftime margin.

Drexel once again started slow in the third quarter. The Dragons got their first points on Sarah Curran free throws at the 4:05 mark. Despite that nearly six-minute offensive outage, Drexel had had given up just six points during that span to the frustrated Blue Hens. Curran's free throws edged Drexel back into the lead, and though the next Dragons points would not come until the 1:23 mark, Curran's three at that point put Drexel back ahead by two, 35-33. After a stop on the defensive end, Pellechio knocked down a mid-range jumper to make it a four-point game heading into the fourth quarter.

The teams traded baskets to open the fourth, but after Drexel built a five-point lead with 4:55 to play, the Blue Hens whittled it down and tied the score at the 3:13 mark thanks to five points from Makeda Nicholas, who would lead Delaware with 13 points. Curran once again stepped up in the clutch, working inside and hitting a jumper off a spin move to put Drexel ahead for good with 1:16 to play, 45-43.

The Dragons forced a wild shot-clock beating attempt from Delaware on the Hens' next possession, and though they could not convert on the other end, gave Delaware less than 20 seconds to work with. Erika Brown was fouled underneath with four seconds to play, but missed both free throws and Pellechio battled the bigger players inside for the loose ball rebound. She took a hard foul but calmly sank both free throws with 1.5 seconds remaining, icing away the victory for the Dragons.

Creighton's six assists leaves her with 378 in her career, moving past Leslie Reiner for fifth place all-time on the Dragons' leaderboard. Next up is Maureen Michaels, who gave out 385 from 1997-2000, and former teammate Hollie Mershon's 387 from 2009-13. Rachel Pearson also moved up a spot on Drexel's all-time scoring list, passing Mikki Miller for 18^th place. Pearson now has 1,054 career points.

Drexel is now 7-2 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center this season, but will face a pair of road games next week as it tries to keep its winning streak going. The Dragons will visit UNCW on Friday night at 7:00 p.m., followed by a visit to the College of Charleston on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Drexel will be taking on the Seahawks for the first time this year, while the Dragons will be attempting to sweep the series from Charleston after defeating the Cougars 66-54 in the teams' CAA opener on Jan. 3. Drexel is 4-5 on the road this season, though it has won two in a row and three of four away from Philadelphia.