The Guru Report: Drexel and Rider Use Defensive Stands to Take Victories

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

PHILADELPHIA — A Drexel best defense produced the Dragon’s best offense Friday night to overcome a sluggish start against Lafayette and create a 52-37 non-conference victory at home here in the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

In the only other game on the Guru’s local D-1 card, Rider snapped a 0-6 season start as the Broncs topped Vermont 64-49 at home in Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.

First in dealing Drexel in the report here, Lafayette (3-4), which was back in West Philadelphia for the second time in three weeks following a previous loss to Penn at The Palestra, held its own and then some in the opening stanza to finish the first quarter with a 13-8 lead.

The Leopards’ advantage grew by one more point at 16-10 with 8 minutes, 13 seconds left in the half.

And then Drexel (4-3) slammed the door shut, keyed by a Megan Marecic three-ball with 6:22 left that ignited a 15-0 run into the break.

The Dragons run continued through one more shot at the outset of the third period before Sammy Stipa stopped the Lafayette drought though the Leopards never threatened again.

“I was not pleased with our urgency to start off today’s game,” Drexel veteran coach Denise Dillon said. “I thought we were a little lackluster — give Lafayette credit, they played hard — they were efficient in what they were trying to do and we played sloppy.

“I said at halftime, if we had let up our defensive end, this would have been Lafayette’s game.”

The Drexel defense forced 29 turnovers resulting in a 23-12 advantage in points in transition to Drexel, which also had a 13-5 advantage in second chance points. 

Though Lafayette won the overall rebounding battle 42-35, Drexel owned the offensive boards 17-8.

Marecic, a senior guard from Pittsburgh, had a game-high 14 points, also connecting on 4-of-9 three-point attempts while freshman Hannah Nihill from Cardinal O’Hara also shot the three-ball well, completing 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and becoming the other double figure scorer for both teams with 13 points, best yet in her fledgling collegiate career.

Nihill also had six steals.

With the entire Lafayette team held to single digits, Natalie Kucowski and Drew Freeland each scored Leopards bests seven points, though Kucowski’s board work got her a game best 14 rebounds.

“The shots aren’t always going to fall but the execution has to be clean,” said Dillon, alluding to Drexel’s 27.3 percent for the game on field goal attempts.

Of the night’s star player, Dillon said Marcecic had “become more confident taking the shots and we’re confident getting her the ball and calling plays for her. I think Megan’s biggest change is on defense she’s putting forth.”

Drexel now takes a four-game road trip, the last of which is back in the city. The Dragons start Sunday at Delaware State, and then later in the week are two upstate New York stops at Niagara and Syracuse, whom they upset here a year ago when the Orange came to town as the 2016 NCAA runnersup to Connecticut.

Then it will be off during finals until Dec. 17 when Drexel travels to Saint Joseph’s.

Lafayette, under new coach Kia Damon, arrived with a three-game win streak over Rider, LIU Brooklyn and on the road Cornell, to come within a victory of their overall four-win total last season.

Next up is a return home to the Kirby Sports Center Wednesday to host Princeton.

Rider Top Vermont for First Season Win

With a roster loaded with newcomers Rider had started much different than a year ago when the Broncs challenged for the MAAC title, set all kind of program records and landed in the WNIT in the postseason.

The last time out had been frustrating on Sunday when they fell by three to East Carolina in the third place game of Seton Hall’s tournament in South Orange, up in North Jersey.

But Friday night, the Broncs finally broke through beating the Catamounts 64-49 powered by sophomore Stella Johnson’s career night with 28 points, shooting 11-for-14 from the field, a career best for field goals made, including 4-of-5 three-pointers.

Trailing early in the second quarter, Johnson grabbed a steal and scored and the Broncs (1-6) never trailed again. 

Vermont (2-6) dropped its fourth straight, ruining another area homecoming for second-year coach Chris Day, a former Penn assistant, who also was an aide at Indiana, Saint Joseph’s and La Salle.

Kamila Hoskova, who has also been one of Rider’s mainstays this season, had 15 points, four of which came from a perfect night on the foul line.

“It’s nice to decompress and get that first one,” said veteran coach Lynn Milligan. “We’ve been playing well and we’ve been close. Win or lose tonight we are still a work in progress.

“We’re still trying to figure out our true identity and how we like to play. When you hold a team under 50 on your home floor that’s a game you should win. I thought defensively we did a really good job locking them up.”

The win was the first for Rider in the short three-game lifetime series with Vermont.

“My team was really hyped in the locker room before the game started and we just wanted to win,” Johnson said. “In practice we’ve been getting our shots up every day. Once one person hits, it helps build our confidence.”

Rider next visits La Salle Wednesday night returning a game of a year ago when the Broncs took the non-conference game with the Atlantic 10 school at home.

Looking Ahead

It’s a big weekend the next two days, locally, and nationally, especially Sunday.

But let’s start with Saturday when Temple hosts Harvard at 2 p.m. in McGonigle Hall. Delaware is at Princeton a 5 p.m., in a game airing on the NBC Sports Network-Philadelphia from Jadwin Gym.

Delaware is coming off a one-point win at Saint Bonaventure while the Tigers lost a narrow outcome at home to No. 25 Villanova.

Rutgers in the second of an eight-game home stand, host Siena, coming off a come-back win Thursday night over North Carolina State. The Scarlet Knights also host Virginia Monday night at 6 p.m.

La Salle is visiting Wisconsin.

On Sunday at 1 p.m. a day after the men’s teams meet, the women’s Holy War within the Big 5 has Villanova hosting Saint Joseph’s in Jake Nevin Fieldhouse.

The Wildcats are unbeaten and playing their first City Series game of the season while the Hawks suffered a tough loss at Temple for their first overall loss and first in the Big Five.

Drexel at Delaware State already has been mentioned while Penn State hosts Manhattan.

Nationally, the big showdown, an annual one, is the Jimmy V women’s game with top-ranked Connecticut hosting No. 3 Notre Dame, which next Saturday visits Penn. Both teams are unbeaten.

The 4 p.m. game, reviving a once old Big East showdown, will air on ESPN from Hartford.

Elsewhere, Duke fresh off a win over Ohio State, travels to South Carolina; Stanford is at Baylor; Oklahoma State is at Mississippi State, Texas is at Georgia, and West Virginia is at Texas A&M.

Saint Joseph’s is at Towson on Tuesday, which takes you through everyone playing early in the week.

And that’s the report.