Greenberg Reaches 1,000 as Women's Hoops Holds Off Tribe, 62-58

Sunday, February 3

Williamsburg, Va.

2 p.m.

Drexel University

William & Mary

Drexel

William & Mary

Greenberg Reaches 1,000 as Women's Hoops Holds Off Tribe, 62-58

2/3/2019 4:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – A season of success on the road had the Drexel women's basketball team tested and ready with an answer for everything William & Mary could throw at them on Sunday afternoon as the Dragons fended off the host Tribe, 62-58. Drexel (15-5, 7-2) got timely scoring runs and necessary defensive stops down the stretch to win its seventh straight overall. The Dragons' win was their 12th straight on the road, surpassing Oregon State for the longest active road winning streak in the nation.

Junior Bailey Greenberg became the 25th member of Drexel's 1,000-point club early in the first quarter and never looked back, finishing with a game-high 24 points. She was 9-for-18 from the floor and 4-for-7 from long range as she also became the first Dragon to net at least 20 in three straight games since Sarah Curran from Mar. 10-19, 2017. Greenberg also pulled down a game-best 11 rebounds for her third double-double of the season and fifth of her career.

Junior Niki Metzel scored a career-high 18 points to go along with eight rebounds. Metzel went 6-for-7 from the free throw line, including sinking a pair late that provided the final margin. Playing with four fouls, Metzel bodied William & Mary leading scorer Bianca Boggs down low and forced a bad shot. She grabbed the rebound and calmly knocked down the free throws with 7.8 seconds to play.

Sophomore Hannah Nihill added seven points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals before fouling out late in the fourth quarter. Keishana Washington hit a pair of late three-pointers that proved critical for her six points, adding three assists and a steal. Aubree Brown added three points and three helpers, while Mariah Leonard and Ana Ferariu each scored two. Ferariu added a block on a William & Mary three-point attempt in the final seconds as the Tribe looked for a miracle. Maura Hendrixson pulled down four rebounds and Kayla Bacon grabbed three, but neither got onto the scoreboard.

Entering the game with 998 points, Greenberg ended any drama about when she would reach the milestone quickly. On the Dragons' first possession of the afternoon, she got the ball down low and drew a foul as she went up with the shot. She made both free throws, and saw her career total tick from 998 to 1,000, becoming the first Dragon since Meghan Creighton in 2017 to join the 1,000-point club.

William & Mary led for much of the first quarter, but the Dragons slowed the fast-paced Tribe offense late in the period for long enough to build a quarter-ending 8-0 run. It was capped by a steal by Nihill with four seconds to play. She raced upcourt and found Greenberg cutting to the basket for two as the buzzer sounded, leaving Drexel up 17-13.

An up-and-down second quarter saw William & Mary briefly retake the lead at 24-23 before Leonard banked a lay-up in high off the glass to put the Dragons back in front. Greenberg followed with a three-pointer, her second of the afternoon, and after a Tribe bucket cut the lead back down to two, Greenberg once again was good from beyond the arc to push the Dragons' lead out to 31-26. Brown got into the three-point action after a pair of William & Mary free throws, and a Nihill runner with 36 seconds left in the half sent Drexel into the locker room holding a 36-30 lead.

Out of intermission, Drexel scored just two points – a Metzel mid-range jumper – over the first 4:22 of the third quarter as William & Mary slashed into the Dragons' lead to get within one at 38-37. A Greenberg lay-up made it a three-point game, but Boggs worked inside for an old-fashioned three-point play with 2:26 to go in the third that pulled William & Mary even.

A three-pointer by Greenberg gave Drexel the lead right back on its next trip down the court, and a Washington steal led to a Nihill fast-break pull-up jumper with 1:37 to go in the third that made it a 45-40 game. Still, a pair of Tribe threes down the stretch had Drexel's lead back down to one heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, it was William & Mary that started slowly. The Tribe was held to just two points over the first 4:27 of the period and just one field goal over the first 5:59. After Boggs made that second field goal to cut a 55-50 lead to 55-52, Washington knocked down the second of her two treys in the fourth quarter to give Drexel what proved to be its largest margin of the period, 58-52.

It was 60-54 with 2:06 to play when the Tribe made their final push, utilizing a full-court press to frustrate Drexel's ball-control offense. Twice the Tribe got to the free throw line over the next minute of action, but hit just two of four – the only two from the stripe William & Mary would miss all afternoon. Still, Drexel struggled to get the ball across midcourt and with 45 seconds to play, a pair of free throws by the Tribe pulled them back within two. Drexel came up empty on the ensuing possession, and William & Mary had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead with just under 15 seconds to play.

The ball went to Boggs, who could not get around Metzel in the paint and forced up a shot that hit the bottom of the rim before Metzel cleaned up the board. Her free throws at the other end effectively ended the threat, and Ferariu's block with three seconds to play closed the door for the Dragons.

The Dragons will now enjoy their second bye of the season, as they have no game Friday before hosting travel partner Delaware on Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m. That game, which will be televised on NBC Sports Philadelphia, will open a three-game homestand for Drexel which will also include visits from Hofstra and Northeastern the following weekend. Drexel's next chance to extend its road win streak – and match a program record with its 10th road victory of this season – will come on Feb. 22 when they head to UNCW, which has yet to lose at home this season.