Women's Basketball Pulls Into First Place Tie with 72-53 Win at Delaware

Thursday, March 1

Newark, Del.

7 p.m.

Drexel University

15-223-6 | CAA

Delaware

10-717-11 | CAA

Drexel

Delaware

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Pulls Into First Place Tie with 72-53 Win at Delaware

3/1/2018 9:32:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – The Drexel women's basketball team has pulled into a first place tie in the Colonial Athletic Association with just one regular season game remaining as the Dragons rolled to a 72-53 victory at Delaware on Thursday night in the team's final road game of the year. The Dragons were led by senior Kelsi Lidge, whose 27 points were a career high. For a second time this season, Drexel never trailed in defeating the Blue Hens.

Lidge went 12-for-19 from the floor to lead all scorers. She added six rebounds and four assists, scoring 17 of her points after halftime. Sara Woods netted 12 points with eight rebounds, and Aubree Brown scored 10 with six boards and three assists. Bailey Greenberg chipped in seven points and seven rebounds, while Niki Metzel had six points and five rebounds off the bench. Hannah Nihill scored two with four steals, three assists and three rebounds. Eline Maesschalck netted four and Kayla Bacon and Ana Ferariu each added a pair to round out the scoring for the Dragons.

The win bumped Drexel into a tie with James Madison for first place in the CAA as both teams are now 15-2 in league play this year. The Dukes were idle on Thursday night, and play William & Mary on Saturday at home.

Drexel raced out of the gates with a 7-0 lead before the Blue Hens called a timeout to stem the tide just over three minutes into the action. The Dragons were moving well without the ball on offense and playing swarming defense, particularly Nihill who created four Delaware turnovers with four steals in the opening quarter. Lidge showed flashes of what was to come with six first-quarter points, all scored around the basket on cuts through the paint.

Though the Dragons went cold from the field late in the second quarter, their defense stayed solid. Drexel did not get a field goal for 3:36 before Niki Metzel's baseline jumper beat the buzzer to end the half, but Delaware had only been able to trim a nine-point deficit down to five before Metzel's bucket sent Drexel into the locker room up 28-21.

Early in the third quarter, it looked like the Blue Hens might make it a game. They hit a three-pointer on their first possession of the half to make it a four-point game. It was still a four-point contest with 5:01 to go when Delaware missed a three that would have slashed the lead down to one. Drexel brought the ball upcourt and Woods finished a putback to start what would be an 8-0 Drexel run to establish a double-digit lead that would not dissipate.

Drexel scored more than 70 for the first time in regulation since Feb. 4 at the College of Charleston, but also benefited from outstanding defense, particularly on Delaware standout Nicole Enabosi. Enabosi, who came into Thursday's game leading the CAA with 18.9 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, scored just four with six boards against Drexel. Both were season lows for Enabosi, who had been held to single digits in both categories just once before, on Jan. 21 at Elon when she scored nine with nine rebounds.

The win, combined with Drexel's 74-53 win over Delaware at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Dec. 29, gave the Dragons multiple wins of more than 10 over Delaware in the same season for just the second time in program history. The first occurred in 2008-09, a year that ended with Drexel capturing its first CAA regular season and tournament championships.

Drexel will have an opportunity to claim its second regular season crown on Saturday afternoon when the Dragons close out the regular season at home against the College of Charleston. That game tips off at 1 p.m. A win would assure Drexel at least a share of the regular season title alongside JMU. Should both teams win, a tiebreaker for the top seed would be decided by the national RPI poll released on Sunday morning at approximately 9 a.m. Heading into Thursday, Drexel had a 16-spot lead on the Dukes, sitting 48th in the national poll with James Madison 64th.