Women's Basketball Surges Past Penn, 67-58

Saturday, December 20

Daskalakis Athletic Center

2:00 p.m.

Drexel University

5-4

Penn

4-4

PENN

DREXEL

Photo by: Ryan Samson

12/20/2014 4:12:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA - As people around the world head home for the holidays, the Drexel women's basketball team was happy to be home on Saturday afternoon. Trailing by 10 early in the second half, the Dragons went on a 17-0 run and never looked back, defeating neighborhing Penn 67-58 to complete a perfect non-conference home season. Drexel shot 52.3 percent from the floor, its highest percentage of the season.

Senior Jackie Schluth led all scorers with 18 points, nearly doubling her previous career high. She shot 7-for-11 from the floor and was 5-for-6 in the second half. Schluth added four assists. Junior Carrie Alexander, making her first collegiate start, capitalized by setting a personal best of her own with 15 points, adding four rebounds. Sophomore Sarah Curran added 16, while freshman Kelsi Lidge chipped in a season-best eight and senior Jamila Thompson added seven points and a career-high seven rebounds.

The win was the 199th career victory for Drexel head coach Denise Dillon, who is in her 12th season at the helm of the Dragons. With one more victory, she will become the first Drexel women's basketball coach ever to earn 200 Division I victories.

Both teams shot 50 percent from the floor, but the Dragons were able to stay in the game and fight back in the second half thanks to their defense. Drexel forced 19 Penn turnovers, matching the most by any Drexel opponent this season. The Dragons came up with 10 steals, one off their season best. Curran and Thompson had three steals apiece. Drexel was stifling on the interior, deflecting passes and swatting away shots. The Dragons had four blocks, also a season high - two each from Thompson and Schluth.

Drexel had a four-point lead late in the first half, 21-17 with 6:28 before intermission. Penn, however, responded with nine straight points, not allowing a Dragon hoop until Schluth nailed a putback with 1:41 remaining. In all, the Quakers finished the half on a 13-2 run to take a 30-23 lead into halftime.

After the break, Penn quickly built its lead up to its largest point, going up 36-26 with 17:14 remaining. Although the Dragons played strong defense overall, one area of weakness was the three-point line, where the Quakers shot 8-of-15 for the afternoon including 5-of-7 from Kathleen Roche, who led Penn with 17 points. It was a three from Renee Busch that pushed Penn's lead to double digits.

Quickly, the Dragons had an answer. Schluth got her second half started with a mid-ranger jumper, a shot she perfected after halftime. She was assisted by Rachel Pearson, who finished with six assists, matching a career high. After a Quaker miss, Pearson started a fast break, finding Schluth slashing to the hoop to put in the lay-up and pull Drexel back within six, 36-30, with 16:11 to play.

Curran scored the Dragons' next five points, hitting a short jumper and converting three-of-four free throws. Schluth was not alone in taking advantage of Penn's zone, as several Drexel shooters found soft spots just inside the arc. The Dragons were just 1-for-6 from long range, and their leading sharpshooter Pearson was held to just three shots and no points as the Quakers keyed on her, but Drexel took advantage of what Penn was giving it.

With 13:08 to play, Alexis Smith put Drexel on top with one of those jumpers, a 15-footer from the right corner. Alexander was next, hitting a shot with her foot on the three-point line with 12:08 to play. That put the Dragons up by three, and as her shot was falling through the net, Penn's Sydney Stipanovich was called for an off-the-ball foul on Jamila Thompson. It was the Quakers' seventh foul of the second half, and Thompson sank both ends of the 1-and-1 to cap off the four-point possession. Alexander would hit two free throws with 10:36 to play to finish the 17-0 run that established control for the Dragons.

Penn got back on the scoreboard with 10:13 to play when Kara Bonenberger worked her way inside for an open lay-up. The Quakers' drought lasted 7:01 in total. Penn would not pull even again, although they did go back and forth with the Dragons for the next several minutes, climbing within two points of Drexel twice.

Every time Penn threatened to get back in front, Drexel found an answer from one of its jump shooters. After Penn made it a three-point game with 4:18 remaining, Drexel methodically scored the game's next six points, taking a 62-53 lead with 1:50 remaining. Particularly tough for Penn to take was a sequence which saw the Dragons nearly force a shot clock violation only to cede an offensive rebound on a wild three-point attempt at the shot clock buzzer. The Quakers could not take advantage, and after gaining possession, Drexel worked its own shot clock down near the end before finding Curran cutting through the middle for an easy bucket that extended the lead to seven.

Drexel won thanks to its intensity inside the arc on both ends. The Dragons outdid the Quakers 23-8 on points off turnovers for the afternoon, and also had 10 second chance points compared to two for Penn. Drexel outrebounded the Quakers, 25-22, the first time all year the Dragons have outrebounded an opponent. Drexel also got to the line 26 times, hitting 20-of-26 (76.9 percent), compared to just 6-of-10 for Penn.

The Dragons will now enjoy eight days off as they celebrate the holiday break. Drexel will conclude its non-conference schedule at the Holiday Inn University Area Cavalier Classic, hosted by the University of Virginia on December 28-29. The Dragons will play Miami (Ohio) on the 28th at 12:30 p.m., followed by a tilt with Virginia at 7:00 p.m. on the 29th.