Strong Third Quarter Leads Women’s Basketball Past Duquesne in WNIT First Round

Friday, March 17

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7:00 p.m.

Drexel University

22-10

Duquesne

18-16

Duquesne

Drexel

Strong Third Quarter Leads Women’s Basketball Past Duquesne in WNIT First Round

3/17/2017 8:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The Drexel women's basketball team earned its first postseason victory since the 2013 WNIT championship game as the Dragons used a second half burst to top Duquesne at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Friday night, 70-47.

Drexel (22-10) outscored the Dukes (18-16) 44-20 after intermission to pull away in what had been a very tightly-contested game through the first 20 minutes. Sarah Curran put up 17 of her game-high 24 points in the second half, and Kelsi Lidge scored all of 11 after the break including nine in a third quarter which saw the Dragons seize control. Lidge finished one rebound shy of a double double, pulling down nine with three assists. Curran had seven boards, three assists, two steals and a block. Meghan Creighton netted 16, including 11 in the first half to help Drexel keep pace, and added two assists. Drexel outrebounded the Dukes 44-30 overall, and pulled down 15 offensive boards compared to just eight for Duquesne. The Dragons also got good ball movement, assisting on 18 of their 23 made baskets while turning the ball over just 12 times.

The win improved the Dragons to 13-2 at the DAC this season, establishing a new program record for home wins in a season.

The Dragons trailed by one at halftime, but opened the third quarter on a 10-2 run to take a lead they would not relinquish. Creighton got it started with a three-pointer, much as she had done to open the game on Drexel's first possession of the first quarter. After Duquesne pulled even, Lidge and Curran knocked down consecutive jumpers before Curran calmly stepped into her second three-pointer of the evening to cap the scoring run.

Duquesne made it a five-point game after Curran's three, but Lidge scored the next five points to give Drexel its first double-digit lead of the night, 41-31. After the teams exchanged empty possessions, she made it a personal 7-0 run with a lay-up at the 2:22 mark.

Drexel took a 49-34 lead into the fourth quarter. It was still a 15-point margin with 4:34 to play when Duquesne head coach Dan Burt drew a pair of technical fouls to earn an ejection and send the Dragons to the line for four attempts, all of which were converted by Curran. A third technical was called on the Dukes' Brianna Thomas less than a minute later, by which point the Dragons' success at the line had put them ahead by 20.

The wild second half was no comparison to the first, in which the lead changed eight times and neither team led by more than four at any point. Creighton started the evening 3-for-5 from long distance, powering the offense as the Dragons shot just 28.1 percent from the floor as a team in the opening 20 minutes. Despite that, Drexel stayed essentially even with the Dukes thanks to eight offensive rebounds and six second chance points and a 7-2 turnover margin in its favor. The Dragons nearly took a two-point lead into halftime, but a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Nina Aho gave Duquesne a one-point edge at the break.

Jessica Pellechio scored seven points, including a 5-for-6 showing at the charity stripe. Tereza Kracikova finished with five points, eight rebounds and a block. Niki Metzel scored two and Megan Marecic had a point in limited minutes, while Aubree Brown scored two with a game-high six assists. Bailey Greenberg added two points but was hampered by foul trouble for much of the night.

The Dragons will remain at the DAC for the second round of the WNIT. They will face Villanova on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. after the Wildcats defeated Princeton in New Jersey on Friday night, 59-53.