Women’s Basketball Roars Past Penn State in Opener, 83-60

Friday, November 11

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

1-0

Penn State

0-1

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Penn State	15	17	21	7	60
Drexel	11	25	23	24	83

Women’s Basketball Roars Past Penn State in Opener, 83-60

11/11/2016 9:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Drexel women's basketball team opened the 2016-17 campaign with authority on Friday night at the Daskalakis Athletic Center as the Dragons took down visiting Penn State, 83-60. Drexel took control of the game midway through the second quarter and never looked back as the Dragons notched their highest point total in over two years.

Senior Jessica Pellechio matched a career high in the game with 30 points and tied a Drexel program record with eight three-pointers made. She was 8-for-15 from long range and became the fourth Dragon ever to knock down eight treys in a single contest. Pellechio scored 22 of her points and hit six of her three-pointers after halftime, and scored all of her points in the final 22:51 of action.

Freshman Bailey Greenberg, who started in her collegiate debut, scored 11 points and pulled down five rebounds to introduce herself to the DAC crowd of 1,057. Senior Sarah Curran opened her final year in the blue and gold with 14 points and three rebounds. Junior Kelsi Lidge, getting the start in front of family who had flown in from Colorado to surprise her, scored nine points and pulled down a team-best six rebounds, adding three steals. Senior Meghan Creighton had five assists and three steals to go along with six points.

Drexel, which finished last season third in the nation in free throw percentage, got off to an outstanding start from the line as the Dragons were a perfect 22-for-22 at the stripe in the game. The Dragons shot 46.3 percent (25-for-54) overall, and 51.2 percent (22-for-43) after the first quarter.

The game got off to a slow start for the Dragons, who were just 3-for-11 from the floor in the first quarter. Trailing by four at the end of the opening period, Drexel had a six-point deficit to overcome after a Teniya Page layup made it 21-15 with 6:50 to play in the second.

From there, the Dragons took off. The spark was the freshman starting in her collegiate debut, Bailey Greenberg, who scored four straight points to make it a two-point game. After those two buckets, Greenberg's high school teammate Aubree Brown nailed her second three-pointer of the evening to cap a 7-0 Drexel run and give the Dragons a one-point lead. Brown, making her Drexel debut after redshirting last season, finished with six points.

Penn State led by two when Jessica Pellechio drove to the hoop and netted the first of her 30 points with just 2:51 to play before halftime. That basket got the senior sharpshooter started, as she followed with a pair of three-pointers that left Drexel with a 33-30 lead and 1:08 to play. With the Lady Lions holding the ball and the shot clock turned off, Kelsi Lidge forced a steal that led to an old-fashioned three-point play with four seconds to play for Sara Woods to leave Drexel with a four-point edge at intermission. Woods had five points and three rebounds off the bench on the evening. Tereza Kracikova would round out the scoresheet for Drexel with two points and a big block on the defensive end.

The Dragons did not let up after halftime. Just 10 seconds into the period, Pellechio drained her third triple of the evening, starting a 9-3 Drexel run to open the second half. The Dragons led by 10 on several occasions during the third quarter, including at the 1:06 mark when Lidge knocked down a pair of free throws, but a late spurt from the Lady Lions left Drexel up only six, 59-53, heading into the final quarter.

Drexel's lead quickly shrank even further to four points, and stayed there until 6:34 remained in the game when Pellechio took matters into her own hands. Her fifth three of the game stretched the lead back out to seven and started a 14-0 Dragons run that essentially locked up the Drexel victory. The run was nearly all Pellechio, as she was 4-for-4 from long range in a span of exactly three minutes. A pair of Greenberg free throws were mixed in to leave Drexel up 75-57 before the Lady Lions finally got back on the scoreboard with 3:02 to play.

The win for Drexel was their second ever against a program from the Big Ten, with both wins coming against Penn State. The other victory over the Lady Lions occurred on Dec. 21, 2010 in State College, an 84-73 Drexel triumph. Pellechio's 30-point effort was just Drexel's second in the last four seasons, joining Sarah Curran's 31-point game at William & Mary on Jan. 10, 2016.

The Dragons will get right back on the court on Sunday afternoon in another home game as they host Delaware State. That game is set to tip off at 2:00 p.m.