Women's Basketball Stops Miami (Ohio), 71-54, for Dillon's 200th

Sunday, December 28

Charlottesville, Va.

12:00 p.m.

Drexel University

6-4

Miami (Ohio)

2-8

Miami (OH)

Drexel

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Women's Basketball Stops Miami (Ohio), 71-54, for Dillon's 200th

12/28/2014 2:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – One of the trademarks of Drexel head coach Denise Dillon's teams in recent years has been the play of the defense. Drexel has set program records and led the Colonial Athletic Association regularly in scoring defense. So it was fitting that Dillon's 200th career victory featured one of the Dragons' best defensive efforts of the season. Drexel defeated Miami (Ohio) 71-54 at the Cavalier Classic Presented by Holiday Inn University Area, never trailing in the game.

It wasn't all a defensive story for the Dragons (6-4). Junior guard Rachel Pearson finished with 25 points, a career high after hitting six-of-ten from long range. She was also a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line, the most attempts from the charity stripe in her career. Carrie Alexander made it back-to-back games in double figures, putting up 12 points in her second-straight start. Drexel got to the line 24 times, hitting a season-best 21 free throws for an .875 percentage. The team's 71 points marked the team's second-highest total of the season.

The Dragons led by as many as 15 in a first half that saw their defense almost completely stymie the RedHawks. Drexel held Miami off the scoreboard for the first 3:09 of play before allowing a putback lay-up. That would prove to be the last field goal for the RedHawks for the next 9:51, before a three-pointer hit by Courtney Larson started a Miami 8-2 burst. Drexel righted itself for the closing minutes of the first half defensively, not allowing another bucket from the RedHawks before the break. The Dragons forced 13 Miami turnovers, including three first-half steals by Jamila Thompson, while committing just four themselves.

Offensively, Drexel was buoyed by a hot start by sharpshooter Rachel Pearson. Pearson, who was held scoreless by Penn in the Dragons' last outing, wasted no time getting started on Sunday. She drove to the hoop and was fouled less than two minutes into the game, hitting both free throws. From there, Pearson worked herself free to hit four of seven three-point attempts in the half, putting up 14 points. Carrie Alexander added six big points. After Miami had pulled to within six at 23-17, Pearson nailed a three-pointer and Alexander followed by hitting two free throws to push the lead back to double digits.

The second half got off to a strong start as well, with Drexel racing out to a 19-point lead with 13:26 remaining. Jamila Thompson had seven of her nine total points after intermission despite playing just six minutes in the half due to foul trouble. Thompson also finished with four assists and three steals, both matching her career highs and the team highs on Sunday afternoon. Sarah Curran matched her own career high with four assists as well, while Pearson's three steals were a personal best of her own.

Trailing 47-28 at that point, Miami did not give up easily. The RedHawks got consecutive lay-ups from Hannah McCue and Baleigh Reid, followed by a three-pointer from Larson. Kayla Brown added an old-fashioned three-point play to get the lead down to single digits, and Larson added another trey to cut things to six. It was as close as Miami had been to the Dragons since the game was 10-5.

Again, it was Pearson who had the answer. On the next possession after Larson's three, Pearson freed herself in the left corner and drained her sixth long bomb of the afternoon. Drexel got a stop, and Jamila Thompson worked her way inside for an easy bucket to make it an 11-point game. Miami would briefly get it back down to nine two minutes later, but would not seriously threaten again.

Drexel was at a significant size disadvantage against the RedHawks, which translated into a 40-30 rebounding edge for Miami. Nevertheless, the Dragons held their ground on the interior on both ends of the court. Drexel outscored Miami 26-22 in the paint. The Dragons also forced a total of 23 Miami turnovers, committing just nine themselves. The Dragons got 26 of their 71 points off Miami turnovers.

The milestone for Dillon is one 12 years in the making. Already Drexel's all-time leader in Division I wins, Dillon became the fourth current CAA coach with at least 200 career victories. Dillon has won at least 15 games in each of the last seven years, leading the team to five straight postseason appearances from 2009-13. She won the 2009 CAA title to bring Drexel to its first NCAA Tournament, and captured the 2013 WNIT for the first postseason championship in the Division I history of Philadelphia area women's basketball.

The Dragons will remain in Charlottesville for their next game, the final non-conference game on the schedule for 2014-15. Drexel will take on the host of the Cavalier Classic, Virginia, on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. The Dragons will be in search of their first true road victory of the season, and their first-ever win over an Atlantic Coast Conference team, in addition to win 201 for Dillon.