Heartbreaker for Women's Basketball Against Towson, 55-54

Friday, January 4

Daskalakis Athletic Center

7 p.m.

Drexel University

Towson

Drexel

Photo by: Gavin Baker

Heartbreaker for Women's Basketball Against Towson, 55-54

1/4/2019 9:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – Two streaks that had lasted for nearly a decade came to an end on Friday night as the Drexel women's basketball team lost a heartbreaker to Towson in the Colonial Athletic Association opener, 55-54. The loss was Drexel's first in a CAA opener since the 2010-11 season, and first against the Tigers since Feb. 4, 2010. The Dragons had won 19 straight against Towson in the interim.

Drexel (8-4, 0-1) led by 11 at halftime and clung to a one-point lead with three seconds to play before Nukiya Mayo hit a runner at the buzzer to provide the winner for Towson. Bailey Greenberg led the Dragons with 17 points, adding eight rebounds. Seconds earlier, it was Greenberg who looked like she may have provided the heroics when her three-pointer with 36 seconds to go erased a two-point deficit and put the Dragons ahead 52-51.

Keishana Washington scored 12 on 4-of-7 shooting, providing a pair of much-needed three-pointers after the Dragons had gone 0-for-15 from long range in the first three quarters of play. Outside of Greenberg and Washington, who shot a combined 11-for-24 from the field, the Dragons were just 9-for-39 on the evening and 0-for-10 from long range. Niki Metzel finished with seven points and four steals, Ana Ferariu netted six on 3-of-7 shooting herself, Hannah Nihill posted four with three assists and four steals, Aubree Brown added three with seven assists, and Tereza Kracikova finished with three while Kayla Bacon chipped in two.

Although Drexel controlled most of the first half, it was Towson that jumped out to the quick start, scoring the game's first six points to prompt a Dragons timeout with 6:39 to go in the first quarter. The 6-0 start marked the best scoring run to open a game for any Drexel opponent this season, but the timeout seemed to settle the Dragons. They quickly scored six straight of their own to even things up, and remained tied at the end of the first quarter after a Tereza Kracikova jumper from the top of the key made it a 10-10 game.

Towson had taken a 10-8 lead with 2:55 to go in the first quarter, but would not score again for the next 10:15 of the game as Drexel forged ahead in the second. The Dragons' first lead came when Bailey Greenberg opened the second-quarter scoring with a short jumper that made it 12-10, part of a 12-0 Drexel run as it built a 20-10 lead before the Tigers finally broke through with 2:40 to go in the half. In all Towson, which had scored six points in the first 3:21 of the contest, scored just six more over the remaining 16:39 of the first half as the Dragons took a 23-12 lead into the locker room.

Although the two-point quarter from the Tigers was the 18th single-digit quarter posted by a team facing Drexel's defense, which came in allowing a nation-best 46.0 points per game, it proved to be the anomaly on Friday night. The Tigers, in particular CAA scoring leader Kionna Jeter, came out firing in the second half. Towson made five of seven from beyond the arc in the quarter, erasing the 11-point deficit late in the third before Drexel got a late bucket to take a 34-33 lead into the fourth.

The Tigers' 21 points in the third quarter represented the most scored in a single period by a Dragons opponent all year, but they were not done. Towson went 9-for-17 from the field in the fourth quarter, scoring 22 and committed just three of their 23 turnovers on the evening. Led by Washington and Greenberg, the Dragons found their stroke from long range to keep up, but Mayo's buzzer-beater sank the Dragons' hopes of a 20th straight win over the Tigers.

Drexel will have to refocus quickly, as the Dragons welcome preseason CAA favorite James Madison into the DAC on Sunday afternoon. The Dragons and Dukes were co-champions of the regular season last year, with Drexel earning the No. 1 seed thanks to an RPI tiebreaker. James Madison returns all five starters from that squad. Sunday's game tips off at 2 p.m.