Women's Basketball Rolls to 79-54 Win Over La Salle

Thursday, November 16

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7 p.m.

Drexel University

(1-1)

La Salle

(1-2)

LA SALLE

DREXEL

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Rolls to 79-54 Win Over La Salle

11/16/2017 10:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Drexel women's basketball team scored an impressive victory in the home opener of the 2017-18 campaign as the Dragons rolled to a 79-54 victory over La Salle at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Thursday night. The win stretched Drexel's streak in home openers to five, and gave the team its first win of the year overall.

Five different Dragons scored in double figures, the first time the team has accomplished that since an 89-49 win at William & Mary on Jan. 16, 2014. Ana Ferariu led the way with 14 points, adding six rebounds. Sara Woods established a new career high with 13 points, finishing 6-of-10 from the field with three boards and two steals. Hannah Nihill netted 12 in her Drexel debut. Nihill added five assists and three steals while shooting 5-of-7 from the floor. Bailey Greenberg and Aubree Brown each scored 11, with Greenberg coming up with four steals and Brown adding six assists. Niki Metzel scored eight on 4-of-5 shooting, a new career high for the sophomore. Megan Marecic added six points on a pair of three-pointers.

The Dragons played crisp team basketball, dishing out 25 assists against just nine turnovers while forcing 28 turnovers by the Explorers. Kelsi Lidge, who finished with four points and six rebounds in her season debut, dished out a career high eight assists and added five steals, one shy of her personal mark. She also had a block as part of a well-rounded line, as did Greenberg and Mariah Leonard.

Drexel came out of the gates slowly, going just 4-for-15 from the field in the first quarter as La Salle crept out to a 13-10 lead. Neither team established a flow offensively in the opening period, as La Salle was just 6-for-14 and had five early turnovers that prevented the Explorers from building on their lead.

The second period, for the Dragons at least, was a different story. Drexel regained the lead on a lay-up by Lidge just 1:20 into the action, and a Woods jumper made it 18-15 Dragons with 6:51 to play before halftime. After a three-pointer by La Salle's Shaquana Edwards knotted things up with 5:56 to go, a Metzel bucket started what would be a 19-2 Drexel run to close the half.

The Dragons made eight of the last nine shots they took in the second quarter, allowing just a pair of La Salle free throws as they seized control of the contest. Nihill followed Metzel's bucket with a three-pointer, then Woods added an old-fashioned three-point play. Ferariu's driving score gave the Dragons a 10-point cushion, and Metzeel followed with a lay-up to make it a 30-18 game. After a pair of Sofilia Ngwafang free throws cut the lead back down to 10, Brown sank a three-pointer to start a quarter-closing 7-0 run that was capped by a pair of mid-range jumpers by Woods.

Drexel continued pouring it on in the third quarter, scoring 28 points in the 10 minutes following intermission. Nihill scored eight of them, highlighted by an impressive flurry over the course of 45 seconds late in the quarter that accounted for six of the eight.

The Dragons finished with 16 steals on the evening, matching their high-water mark from last season. They finished with 41 points off La Salle's 28 turnovers, while the Explorers managed to convert Drexel's nine giveaways into just seven points. Drexel also outdid the Explorers 42-32 in the paint despite a size disadvantage that favored La Salle. The 41 points off turnovers are the most for any Drexel team over the last decade.

Drexel will be right back in action on Saturday afternoon as the Dragons host Bucknell. That game will tip off at 2 p.m.