Dragons Fall to Top-Seeded Texas in NCAA Tournament

Friday, March 22

Austin, Texas

3 p.m.

Drexel University

19-15,10-8CAA

Texas

31-4,14-4Big 12

Drexel

Texas

Dragons Fall to Top-Seeded Texas in NCAA Tournament

3/22/2024 4:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

AUSTIN, Texas - Drexel's impressive postseason run came to an end on Friday afternoon in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament. The Dragons fell to the top-seeded University of Texas at the Moody Center in Austin, 82-42. Amaris Baker led the Dragons with 10 points. The Longhorns (31-4), who began the tournament ranked fourth in the nation, will move on to face the winner of the Florida State-Alabama game. They have now won 13 of their last 14 games and five in a row.

Drexel's seven-game winning streak, which included four wins in four days to win the CAA Championship, came to a close as the Dragons finished the season with a 19-15 record. Amaris Baker, who saved her best basketball for the end of the season, led the Dragons with 10 points. It was her 12^th-straight game with at least 10 points.

Texas scored the first nine points of the game and raced out to a 13-2 lead, making its first six shots. The Dragons settled in and got right back into the game. Baker scored six points and Erin Sweeney twice scored on back door cuts as Drexel cut the lead to 19-12 after one quarter. The defense tightened up and held the fourth-ranked team to just 3-for-14 shooting over the final 6:52 of the first quarter.

The Dragons opened the second quarter with a Baker lay-up just 12 seconds in to make it a five-point game. Texas answered with a 12-0 run and held Drexel without a point for a stretch of 4:35. Grace O'Neill broke the stretch with a jumper at the 5:13 mark. The Longhorns used their size inside to extend the lead to 40-20 at intermission. Texas finished the first half with 13 offensive rebounds and 26 of their 40 points from in the paint.

The Longhorns came out hot in the second half and made sure that the Dragons wouldn't become just the second team in NCAA Women's Basketball to knock off a one-seed. Texas opened the half on an 18-3 run. They outscored DU, 34-12, in the third period. Shaylee Gonzalez scored 15 points in the quarter for the Longhorns, was 6-for-6 from the floor and had three 3-pointers.

The teams played a fairly even fourth quarter as the Dragons outscored their hosts by a bucket. Drexel held the Longhorns to just 14 percent shooting in the quarter. Overall, Texas shot just 44 percent from floor as the Drexel defense held the Longhorns well below their season average of 49.8 percent. Texas came into the game sixth in the nation in rebounding and that trend continued on Friday. The Longhorns outrebounded Drexel, 51-23, with more than half of those boards coming on the offensive end.

Chloe Hodges, Brooke Mullin and Grace O'Neil each scored six points for the Dragons. Hodges led the team with eight rebounds, six of those coming on the offensive glass. Mullen had two 3-pointers, giving her 54 on the season.

Madison Booker had a career-high 14 assists for Texas, while Deyona Gaston recorded her second double-double of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Gonzalez finished with a game-high 21 points, while Taylor Jones had 18 points.