Dragons Rally From a 17-Point Deficit to Stun JMU, 51-48

Saturday, February 27

Daskalakis Athletic Center

1 p.m.

Drexel University

11-7,8-5CAA

James Madison

12-9,8-6CAA

James Madison

Drexel

Dragons Rally From a 17-Point Deficit to Stun JMU, 51-48

2/27/2021 2:51:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Philadelphia – The Drexel women's basketball team rallied from a 17-point deficit to stun James Madison, 51-48, on Saturday afternoon in the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Keishana Washington scored what proved to be the game-winner on a driving lay-up with 1:11 to play after a timeout. The Dragons came up with a stop on the defensive end and Washington scored again, this time off a nice bounce pass by Hannah Nihill through traffic with nine seconds remaining to put Drexel up by three. JMU had two chances to tie, but missed both as the Dragons pulled off one of their biggest comebacks in recent memory. With the win, the Dragons moved into third place in the CAA at 8-5 (11-7 overall), percentage points ahead of the Dukes (12-9, 8-6 CAA).

NOTABLE
* Keishana Washington and Hannah Nihill combined to score 38 of Drexel's 51 points.
* Nihill scored a game-high 20 points and had a career-best five 3-pointers. She also had six assists and five steals.
* Washington scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half and made seven of her 11 shots after intermission.
* Senior Kayla Bacon had eight points to go along with five rebounds
* Graduate student Mariah Leonard grabbed a team-high five rebounds.
* JMU had at least two points from 10 different players. Anne Diouf led the Dukes with nine points and a game-high 16 rebounds.

GAMEPLAY
Q1 /
James Madison scored the first nine points of the contest and led 18-6 at the end of the first quarter. Keishana Washington got the Dragons first bucket of the game at the 6:43 mark to put the Dragons on the board. The Dukes shot 47 percent in the opening 10 minutes and controlled the glass. They grabbed 16 rebounds that led to 12 second-chance points in the quarter. Kayla Bacon scored four of Drexel's six points in the quarter and was 2-for-2 shooting.

Q2 /
The Dragons cut the JMU lead to 10 as Hannah Nihill scored five points in the early going of the quarter. However, the Dukes went on a 7-0 run minutes later to extend their lead to 17. Nihill added a late 3-pointer and finished with eight points in the second quarter. Maura Hendrixson had a pair of assists in the frame for DU. JMU had six different players get on the board in the second and nine players had points in the half as the Dukes led 31-16 at intermission.

Q3 /
The Dragons came alive in the third quarter. Trailing 34-17 in the opening minutes, the Dragons went on a 15-0 run to get right back in the game. Nihill started the rally with a pair of 3-pointers and Washington added the next six points. Nihill capped the rally with her fifth trey of the game. JMU finally broke the drought when Peyton McDaniel hit a 3-pointer with just under four minutes to go in the third. The Dragons weren't done yet as they closed out the quarter with a 7-2 run. When Bacon hit a jumper in the corner with just :21 seconds to play, Drexel erased all of what was once a 17-point deficit to tie the game at 39 heading into the fourth. Washington and Nihill each had 10 points in the third quarter and Drexel's defense held the Dukes to just 3-for-16 shooting in the stanza.

Q4 /
Drexel picked up where it left off in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. The Dragons scored the first six points, including four by Mariah Leonard, to take their first lead of the game. JMU countered with a 9-2 run and took the lead at 48-47 with 3:13 to go on a Diouf putback. Both teams were held scoreless until Washington closed the contest with four straight points. Drexel held JMU scoreless the final 3:13 as the Dukes missed their last five field goal attempts.

BY THE NUMBERS
* Drexel turned it around from the floor in the second half. The Dragons shot 42.9% in the second half after making less than a quarter of their shots in the opening half.
* The Dragons had assists on 15 of their 19 field goals in the game. They committed just 10 turnovers.
* Drexel's defense forced 20 turnovers in the game and the Dragons scored 14 points off those turnovers. That helped negate JMU's advantage on the glass. The Dukes controlled the glass by a 48-28 margin.

NEXT UP
Drexel is scheduled to close the regular season on Sunday afternoon against James Madison. It will be the team's final game before playing in the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association Championships.