Women's Basketball Tops Lafayette, 52-37

Friday, December 1

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7 p.m.

Drexel University

4-3

Lafayette

3-4

Lafayette

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

12/1/2017 9:06:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Drexel women's basketball team played some of its best defense of the young season on Friday night as the Dragons took down Lafayette at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, 52-37. Drexel used a lockdown second quarter in which the Dragons held Lafayette to just three points to springboard itself to a third victory in as many tries at home this year.

Megan Marecic led all scorers wth 14 points, just one shy of the career high she established on Saturday against Butler. Hannah Nihill netted 13, also a personal best, to go along with a game-high six steals and three assists. Kelsi Lidge scored seven with three assists, while Bailey Greenberg and Aubree Brown each added six points and three steals. Kayla Bacon scored the first two points of her collegiate career, and Sara Woods also netted a pair with two assists. Eline Maesschalck and Niki Metzel each sank one free throw to round out the scoring line for the Dragons.

As has been the case for much of the season, the Dragons came out of the locker room slow. Drexel knocked down just four of its first 25 shot attempts and trailed 16-10 early in the second quarter before the Dragons got the offense going.

Megan Marecic was the catalyst, as she was on Saturday against Butler. Her three-pointer ended a drought of nine consecutive long-range shots missed by the Dragons and cut Lafayette's six-point lead in half. Bailey Greenberg knotted the score with an old-fashioned three-point play after a Marecic steal, and Marecic gave the Dragons the lead with her second trey of the evening. In all, she would score eight points in the second quarter as Drexel began to assert itself on both ends. The team followed its 4-for-25 start with a 4-for-5 run that fueled what eventually became a 15-0 run to end the quarter. Lafayette was just 1-for-12 from the floor with nine turnovers in the second quarter and did not score after the 8:13 mark as Drexel took a 25-16 lead into the break.

Lafayette's drought would extend to 10:02 before the Leopards finally got back on the board early in the third quarter, cutting an 11-point Drexel lead down to nine.

The Dragons answered right back, though, as Kelsi Lidge sank a three-pointer from the left corner on the team's next possession. That set off a flurry of Drexel threes, with Hannah Nihill knocking down a pair and Marecic adding another as Drexel pushed its lead to 39-22 with 4:58 to play in the third, prompting a Lafayette timeout.

Drexel led by as many as 20 points, 47-27, early in the fourth quarter after the fourth of Marecic's four three-pointers. Though Lafayette would hold the Dragons to just eight points in the fourth on 2-of-11 shooting, the Leopards doomed any chance of a comeback with seven turnovers on their end of the court. After a Drew Freeland three-pointer with 4:35 to play cut the Dragons' lead to 13, the Leopards failed to get another field goal the rest of the way as Drexel kept its lead preserved.

Friday's game was the only one at home for the Dragons in a 32-day stretch, spanning from Nov. 18's win over Bucknell to Nov. 21's date with Cornell. Next up is a road test at Delaware State on Sunday afternoon. That game tips off at 2 p.m.