Greenberg's Buzzer Beater Lifts Women's Basketball at Northeastern

Friday, January 18

Boston, Mass.

7 p.m.

Drexel University

10-5, 2-2CAA

Northeastern

12-4, 2-3CAA

Drexel

Northeastern

Greenberg's Buzzer Beater Lifts Women's Basketball at Northeastern

1/18/2019 9:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BOSTON – Bailey Greenberg capped a career high 26 points with the game-winner at the buzzer as the Drexel women's basketball team nabbed its most dramatic victory of the season thus far, 61-59 at Northeastern on Friday night. With exactly a second to play, Greenberg received the inbounds pass from Aubree Brown in the paint, turned around and banked home the winner.

The heroics by Greenberg, who also rattled in a floater with 30 seconds to go that tied the score after Northeastern had taken its first lead since the first quarter, helped Drexel avoid a devastating loss after it had led by 14 in the second half. She shot an efficient 11-for-17 on the night, including 2-of-4 from long range, to outdo her previous career high of 24 set earlier this season against Wright State. Greenberg added eight rebounds, also a game high.

The Dragons also got significant contributions from a pair of freshmen. Maura Hendrixson, making her first start, matched the career high she set on Sunday at Delaware with 16 points on 5-of-8 shooting from long range. Keishana Washington scored just four, but three came at a pivotal time as her trey from the right wing with 2:15 to play gave the Dragons a four-point lead, 57-53.

Niki Metzel finished with seven points and matched a season high for any Dragon with five steals, her own career best. Aubree Brown did not score but dished out six assists, including the one on the game-winner. Ana Ferariu finished with four points, while Eline Maesschalck and Mariah Leonard each added two. Tererza Kracikova provided significant defense in the waning minutes, coming up with the loose ball with one second remaining that gave Greenberg her opportunity.

The Huskies got off to a running start and led 10-2 just over four minutes into the action. They maintained that eight-point edge until it was 14-6 with 2:53 remaining in the first quarter. Then, the Dragons came alive. It started with a Bailey Greenberg lay-up. Within a minute, a pair of Maura Hendrixson three-pointers had pulled Drexel back even. Northeastern briefly retook a 16-14 lead, but Mariah Leonard and Ana Ferariu netted the last four points of the first quarter to give the Dragons an 18-16 lead.

That proved to be just part of a 17-2 run for the Dragons that saw them lead 23-16 with 7:12 to go in the second. Though the Drexel offense sputtered down the stretch in the first half, the defense never wavered. Northeastern went just 1-for-13 in the second quarter, a Stella Clark three-pointer, and turned the ball over four times as Drexel went into the locker room with a 26-19 edge.

After the plodding second quarter that featured a combined 11 points, the third quarter pace was frenetic. Drexel scored 22 on 8-of-14 shooting, including three of its season-high eight threes. That marked the highest-scoring quarter for the Dragons since a season-best 26 points in the third quarter against Bucknell on Nov. 15.

Despite that, the Huskies kept up. Northeastern went 9-for-16 from the floor, though just 1-for-4 from long range, to net 20. Drexel had led by 14 early in the third, but the lead was trimmed down to nine heading into the fourth quarter.

A Hendrixson three-pointer with 9:11 to go in the fourth proved to be Drexel's only field goal over the first 4:10 of the period. Meanwhile, the Huskies methodically whittled away the lead, and briefly pulled even before a Greenberg bucket ended the dry spell.

Leading by two with 5:50 to go, it was Drexel's time to turn up the defensive intensity. Northeastern was held off the scoreboard for the next 3:18, but Drexel managed just one more point in that stretch to lead 54-51 before Shannon Todd's lay-up made it a one-point game with 2:32 to play. Coming back down the other end, Washington nailed her three-pointer that briefly put the Dragons up by four.

Northeastern did not roll over, though. Over the next 1:23, the Huskies scored eight unanswered to take a 59-57 lead, their first since that 16-14 edge late in the first quarter. Needing a bucket, the Dragons turned to Greenberg, who worked her way inside and knocked down a game-tying bucket. With the shot clock off, Northeastern worked the clock down until just three seconds remained, but a bad interior pass was collected by Kracikova with one tick remaining that set up Greenberg's thrilling winner.

The Dragons continue their road trip on Sunday afternoon when they head to Long Island to visit Hofstra in search of their third straight victory. That game tips off at 2 p.m.