Season Ends for Women's Hoops with 69-56 Defeat at Harvard

Friday, March 22

Cambridge, Mass.

7 p.m.

Drexel University

24-9, 14-4CAA

Harvard

17-12, 9-5Ivy

DREXEL

Harvard

Season Ends for Women's Hoops with 69-56 Defeat at Harvard

3/22/2019 9:42:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The Drexel women's basketball team saw its season come to a close on Friday night as they fell to Harvard in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament, 69-56. The Dragons could not overcome a hot shooting night for the Crimson, who hit 10 three-pointers in ending Drexel's season. Drexel finished with a 24-9 record.

Harvard was 10-for-21 from long range on the evening, getting off to a fast start that saw the Crimson hit eight of their 12 long-distance attempts in the first half. Drexel came into Friday's game sporting the top three-point percentage defense in the nation at 23.6 percent, and had not given up more than seven threes in any game all year.

Drexel stayed in it thanks to its own long-range barrage. The Dragons were 9-for-30 from three, tying a season high for threes made. Aubree Brown finished with 16 points and hit four of her six three-point attempts. Maura Hendrixson scored 11 including three treys of her own, and Keishana Washington added 10 points and a pair of threes. Eline Maesschalck added seven, scoring five in a late push that came up short as Drexel tried to claw its way back even. Tereza Kracikova added two points and Niki Metzel and Mariah Leonard scored one apiece.

Bailey Greenberg finished her junior season with eight points, just the fourth time she was held to single digits. Nevertheless, she moved into sole possession of 15th place all-time on Drexel's scoring list and now has 1,228 career points. Greenberg also grabbed a team-best nine rebounds, finishing just shy of what would have been her sixth double-double of the season.

Harvard jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, prompting head coach Denise Dillon to take a timeout less than two minutes into the game. After the stoppage, Drexel began to click offensively, but could not find an answer for Harvard, which came in 13th in the nation averaging 9.3 threes a game. Drexel made five first-quarter threes, but was just 1-for-5 from inside the arc as Harvard made four threes and shot 50 percent overall to take an early 20-17 lead.

The Crimson began to pull away in the second quarter, continuing their deep threat by hitting four of six from deep in the period. Drexel, meanwhile, cooled and managed just nine total points in the second quarter as Harvard built a 36-26 halftime edge.

Trailing 42-28 early in the third quarter, the Dragons began to fight back. It began with a Brown three-pointer, followed by a lay-up from the junior from Philadelphia. After a Harvard bucket, Washington followed with the game's next five points, and Hendrixson capped what had been a 13-2 Drexel run with a three-pointer that made it a 44-41 game with 4:06 to play in the third. Harvard called a timeout which stalled the Dragons' momentum, as the Crimson closed the quarter on an 8-3 spurt.

Drexel's final push came midway through the fourth quarter. Trailing 60-49, Greenberg found Maesschalck cutting to the basket for a lay-up to get the lead back down to single digits with 4:10 to go. Maesschalck alone would rattle off five straight, getting the Dragons back within six at 60-54 with 2:44 to play. Drexel had the ball and an opportunity to cut further into the Harvard lead, but came up empty. It was still a six-point game, 62-56, when Hendrixson scored down low with 59 seconds to play, but the Crimson went 7-for-8 from the line down the stretch as Drexel came up empty on its end.

The Dragons' 24 wins check in as tied for the third-most in a single season in program history. Combined with last season's 27 victories, the Dragons' 51 wins over the last two year mark a record high.