Women's Basketball Sweeps Season Series from Hofstra with 58-47 Victory

Sunday, January 21

Hempstead, N.Y.

2 p.m.

Drexel University

14-5, 6-1CAA

Hofstra

10-9, 4-4CAA

Drexel

Hofstra

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Sweeps Season Series from Hofstra with 58-47 Victory

1/21/2018 4:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – It was a tale of two halves for the Drexel women's basketball team at Hofstra on Sunday, but in the end the Dragons fended off a late push by the hosts to complete their first season sweep of the Pride since 2008-09 with a 58-47 victory at the Mack Sports Complex. The win is Drexel's fourth in a row and leaves them 14-5 overall and 6-1 in Colonial Athletic Association action.

The Dragons held Hofstra down in the first half, allowing the Pride just three points in the first quarter and nine in the second. Drexel led by as many as 19 midway through the second quarter before the Hofstra offense began to stir. In the second half, it was Drexel's turn to struggle on the offensive end as Hofstra pressured the Dragons and used the transition game to crawl back into it. Drexel's lead got as low as three points midway through the fourth quarter before a pivotal three-pointer from Kelsi Lidge – just the second three of the afternoon for Drexel – created some breathing room and seemed to deliver a gut punch to the Pride's comeback attempt.

Bailey Greenberg led the way for the Dragons with a game-high 15 points and eight rebounds. She has now reached double figures in five of the team's seven CAA games. Sara Woods scored 13 with five boards, while Lidge netted nine to go along with six rebounds and three steals. Hannah Nihill added eight, and went 6-for-7 from the free throw line to help seal the win down the stretch. She also had four assists and matched a season high with six rebounds. Aubree Brown scored five with seven assists against just two turnovers. Ana Ferariu, Tereza Kracikova, Eline Maesschalck and Niki Metzel each scored two to round things out for the Dragons.

Looking for a victory in a building that has not been hospitable in recent years, the Dragons jumped on top early. They scored the first nine points of the game and held Hofstra off the scoreboard until a three-pointer with 4:30 to go in the first quarter. That would provide the Pride's only points of the first quarter as Drexel held Hofstra to 1-of-13 shooting in the opening period with three turnovers. Offensively, Bailey Greenberg scored five points and Aubree Brown added four, including a buzzer-beating lay-up to put Drexel on top 15-3 after one.

Hofstra was still without a second field goal of the afternoon for six minutes in the second quarter as the Dragons built a 24-5 lead. Back-to-back Drexel turnovers led to fast-break buckets for the Pride and prompted a Dragons timeout, but Hofstra was nonetheless held to single digits in the second quarter as Drexel took a 26-12 lead into intermission. The Pride missed 17 of their first 18 attempts from the field and shot just 17.4 percent (4-for-23) overall in the opening half.

The Dragons maintained their double-digit lead throughout the third quarter, though Hofstra was able to get the lead down to 10 when Aleana Leon knocked down a three-pointer with 1:10 to play. After the teams went scoreless for the last 70 seconds of the quarter, Leon got the fourth quarter scoring started with another three that made it a single-digit game for the first time since the first quarter.

Greenberg responded with a jumper, but Hofstra rattled off the next six points to make it a one-possession game at 38-35 with 7:36 to play. As Drexel's offense continued to struggle, missing a shot and turning it over twice, Hofstra had three opportunities to cut further into the Dragons' lead or tie the game up. When it needed to, though, the Dragons' defense once again stepped up and got a pair of steals of their own.

With 6:00 to play, Brown found Lidge near the top of the key and the senior drilled the three-pointer, pushing the lead back out to six. That sparked a 10-3 Dragons run that got the lead back to double figures with 2:57 to play when Nihill dished to Woods for a lay-up inside. The three-pointer had knocked the wind out of Hofstra's sails, and Drexel sealed the win at the free throw line.

The Dragons have played four of their last five conference games on the road, going 3-1 in those matchups. Now, they will begin a three-game homestand when they host defending CAA champion Elon on Friday night at 7 p.m. Drexel will also welcome Northeastern and Towson into the DAC during the homestand.