Third-seeded Drexel Headed to Battle No. 1 Delaware with 50-34 Win over James Madison
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UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (March 16, 2013) - Third-seeded Drexel
held second-seeded James Madison scoreless for nine minutes in the second half
and defeated the Dukes 50-34 in the second semifinal of the CAA Women's
Basketball Championship, presented by Jani-King, on Saturday afternoon.
Drexel (22-9) advances to take on top-seeded Delaware in
tomorrow's championship game for the second year in a row. The Blue Hens
defeated the Dragons, 59-43, in the title contest a year ago. James Madison
falls to 22-10 with the loss.
The winner of the Delaware/Drexel game will receive the
league's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The
Championship contest will be broadcast on the Comcast SportsNet family of
networks at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 17.
Senior guard Hollie Mershon led all scorers with 21 points,
while adding six rebounds and five assists as Drexel led for a majority of the
40 minute contest. Senior forward Taylor Wootton added 13 points and eight
rebounds and junior guard/forward Fiona Flanagan chipped in nine rebounds to go
with seven points for the Dragons.
James Madison was led by sophomore forward Toia Giggetts' 14-point
performance, which went along with eight rebounds. Junior guard Kirby
Burkholder was dominant on the glass with a game-high 13 rebounds and added
eight points for the Dukes.
Leading 26-20 heading into the second half, Drexel reeled off
a quick 6-2 run to increase its lead to 10 with 13:47 to play in the regulation.
The Dragons defense became the key to the game as they held the Dukes scoreless
for over five minutes and were held to just one made free-throw in over nine
minutes of play in the final 11 minutes of the game.
Drexel shut down the Dukes top scorer on the season Tarik
Hislop (16.5 ppg), holding her to just nine points and only three points in the
second half. Burkholder, who entered the game shooting 34.7% from behind the
arc, also struggled from three point range finishing 0-4.
Drexel held a 26-20 halftime lead due in part to an 11-0 run
early in the first half. James Madison would cut the Dragons lead to 23-20 before
Meghan Creighton sank a three-pointer with just over a minute to play in the
half gave Drexel the six point advantage. The Dragons were 6-11 from behind the
arc in the first period (54.5%) compared to a 0-8 effort from the Dukes. Wootton
led the Dragons into the lockeroom at the half with nine points.
Both teams struggled to find its shooting touch
with Drexel shooting 29.5% compared to James Madison's 27.7 percent. Drexel
held a 39-37 rebounding advantage and finished the game 7-16 (43.8%) from long
range compared to James Madison's 1-13 (7.7%) effort.
Tune into CAA.TV following Comcast SportsNet's coverage of Sunday's Championship Final to watch live postgame celebration and press conference reactions.