Women’s Basketball Outlasts Delaware in Overtime Battle on Sunday

Sunday, February 19

Daskalakis Athletic Center

3:00 p.m.

Drexel University

20-6, 11-4

Delaware

14-12, 8-7

OT 1

Delaware

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women’s Basketball Outlasts Delaware in Overtime Battle on Sunday

2/19/2017 5:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – It took overtime, but the Drexel women's basketball team swept the regular season series from Delaware for a third consecutive season and won its 20th game of the year on Sunday, 53-49. The Dragons (20-6, 11-4) reached the 20-win milestone for the sixth time in program history and the fourth time under head coach Denise Dillon. It is just the fourth time that the Dragons have 20 wins before the end of the regular season, and they will have three opportunities to tie or surpass the program record of 21 wins before the start of postseason play.

The victory was Drexel's first in any overtime game since an 80-74 win over William & Mary on Feb. 17, 2011. The Dragons had lost six consecutive overtime games in the interim.

The latest chapter in one of the Colonial Athletic Association's most storied rivalries came down to the performances of two players, as the Dragons got 23 points from senior guard Jessica Pellechio while Delaware relied on 21 from senior guard Erika Brown. The two of them were the only players in Sunday's game to reach double figures. Pellechio was 7-for-13 from the floor and 5-for-9 from long range. She hit all four of her free throw attempts and added four rebounds.

In what was a defensive struggle throughout, the Dragons shot just 28.3 percent from the floor for the afternoon, though they did hit eight of 18 three-point attempts (44.4 percent). Drexel's defense kept the Dragons in the game, forcing 21 Delaware turnovers as the Blue Hens managed to hit just four of 18 from long range (22.2 percent), and shot at a 37.7 percent clip overall.

Sarah Curran scored eight points, including a critical three-pointer after the Blue Hens had erased a seven-point Drexel lead in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Delaware responded by scoring the next four points, but Bailey Greenberg knocked down a much-needed three-pointer to push the Dragons back on top. She finished with seven points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Kelsi Lidge, playing her first home game since Jan. 22 after suffering a left wrist injury, came up with a putback with 35 seconds to play in regulation that gave the Dragons another lead, 44-42, but Delaware would send it to overtime with a jumper by Hannah Jardine 22 seconds later. Lidge, who played 27 minutes off the bench, scored four and had three steals, her 11th game this season with at least three.

The first overtime period of the season for the Dragons began with an old-fashioned three-point play by Brown to put the Blue Hens ahead, but Pellechio was not about to be outdone. On the next possession, Pellechio stepped into a mid-range jumper that dropped to pull the Dragons within one. After a pair of defensive stops, she drove to the hoop and was fouled with 2:46 to play, knocking down both free throws to give the Dragons a lead they would not relinquish.

Delaware scored just once more, with only 12 seconds to play in overtime after four free throws by Greenberg and Lidge had pushed Drexel's lead to five. Curran added one more free throw to nudge the lead back to two possessions, and a last-ditch three-point heave by Brown hit off the iron and was collected by Pellechio to seal the win.

The game featured solid defense on both sides, with neither team able to create much separation. Drexel led 9-8 after the first quarter, but went just 2-for-10 from the floor in the second and scored six points in the period as the Blue Hens grabbed an 18-15 halftime lead. For its part, Delaware was just 8-for-21 from the floor with 10 turnovers forced by the Dragons to keep the game close. Five different players had a steal for Drexel in the first half.

Early in the second, Delaware built its largest lead of the afternoon at 23-17 before Pellechio took over. She knocked down a three with 7:43 to play in the third, the first of her 14 points in the third quarter, that sliced that lead in half.

Delaware led by four with 6:15 to play in the third quarter when Pellechio drained her second trey of the period and third of the afternoon. After a stop, Greenberg found Pellechio open for another triple to put Drexel back in front, 27-25. Ninety seconds later, it was Meghan Creighton feeding Pellechio for yet another three-pointer, her fifth of the afternoon to give Drexel a 30-25 edge. A pair of Sara Woods free throws gave Drexel what would be its largest lead of the day at 32-25 and capped an 11-0 run for the Dragons over 3:06.

Drexel went into the fourth quarter still up by seven, 34-27, but once again went cold to open the period. The Dragons' first points of the final frame came with 6:53 to play when Curran ended a 7-0 Delaware run and gave Drexel back its lead, 36-34. A jumper by Erika Brown immediately tied things back up before Curran's three-pointer with 4:48 to play started the final flurry. Brown would ultimately score 16 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter to help the Blue Hens force overtime.

Curran's eight points moved her into eighth place on Drexel's all-time scoring list, two behind Jen MacNeill (1,519 from 1994-98) for seventh. Creighton, Tereza Kracikova and Ana Ferariu each chipped in three points for the Dragons. Creighton added a pair of assists and two steals. Woods scored two, and Aubree Brown handed out a team-high four assists.

The win, combined with a William & Mary loss earlier in the afternoon at Elon, ensured the Dragons of no worse than the No. 3 seed at the upcoming CAA Tournament. Drexel is currently alone in third place, two games behind James Madison and Elon with three to play. Both teams hold tiebreakers over the Dragons, though Drexel will have a chance to gain a game on JMU when the Dukes visit the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Friday night. That game, which will serve as Senior Night for Pellechio, Curran and Creighton, tips off at 7:00 p.m.