Nihill, Metzel Lead Women's Basketball Past Gardner-Webb, 65-48

Sunday, December 16

Daskalakis Athletic Center

2 p.m.

Drexel University

Gardner-Webb

Drexel

Photo by: Kevin Rossi

Nihill, Metzel Lead Women's Basketball Past Gardner-Webb, 65-48

12/16/2018 4:44:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Hannah Nihill poured in a career high 17 points and Niki Metzel put together the first double-double of her career as the Drexel women's basketball team led from tip to buzzer for a 65-48 victory over Gardner-Webb on Sunday afternoon at the Daskalakis Athletic Center. The Dragons improved to 7-2 with the victory.

Nihill's 17 points led the way for the Dragons in the scoring column, making her the first Dragon other than Bailey Greenberg to lead the team in scoring in a game this year. She added five rebounds and three steals. Metzel finished with 12 points and 13 boards, the latter a career high, as she paced Drexel's best rebounding effort of the year. The Dragons collected 48 rebounds, 11 more than the Runnin' Bulldogs, and had a season-best 22 offensive boards.

Greenberg finished the afternoon with 14 points, adding six rebounds and two steals. Aubree Brown chipped in 10 points with six boards and three assists as the Dragons had their first game of the season with four players reaching double figures. Keishana Washington, who returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games due to injury, added five points and four rebounds. Mariah Leonard also scored four, Ana Ferariu added two and Tereza Kracikova had a block and a point to round it out.

The Dragons never trailed, and ran out to a 17-4 first-quarter lead after holding Gardner-Webb without a field goal for the first 8:28 of the action. Drexel got to the free throw line early and often, knocking down 22 of 31 from the charity stripe, both season highs.

A Nihill free throw with 1:14 remaining in the first quarter left the Dragons up 14-4. They would never see their lead slip below double figures the rest of the way. Gardner-Webb cut it to 21-11 with 7:11 to go in the second quarter, but by halftime Drexel held a commanding 35-16 advantage and built the lead to as high as 25 midway through the third quarter.

The Dragons will return to action on Friday morning when they host University City rival Penn at 11:30 a.m. in a School Day game at the DAC. Friday's game will not only feature the closest programs geographically in all of Division I, it will also feature the top two scoring defenses in the nation. Drexel sits atop the national leaderboard in that category at 46.2 points per game allowed, while Penn is the only other program in the country to allow fewer than 50 points per game at 49.8.