Spring Break
Marginean guides team to victory
Mike Mazzeo
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Sports
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Gabriela Marginean scored a game-high 19 points, including nine points down the stretch that broke a tie and gave Drexel a late cushion, and Narissa Suber added 14 as the Dragons (13-10, 8-4 CAA) pulled out a gutsy 48-42 win Feb. 14 over Delaware (6-18, 5-7 CAA).
With its victory, Drexel swept its series with Delaware for the first time since the 1998-1999 season. Previously, the Dragons bested the Blue Hens 66-62 in Newark Jan. 10.
"Fortunately, [Delaware] struggled as well as we did," Drexel head coach Denise Dillon said. "It was just an ugly game of basketball. I would just have to say we were the lucky ones to pull out the win."
Drexel, which shot only 23.6 percent in the first half and made just six field goals, didn't instill any confidence that they were going to turn it around in the second.
The Blue Hens scored the first seven points to take a 24-17 advantage with 17:50 remaining.
Luckily Jasmina Rosseel, the first woman off the Dragons' bench, found her perimeter stroke.
Rosseel, who finished with nine points on three 3-pointers, sparked an 8-0 counter with a pair of threes as Drexel took a one-point lead.
"She stepped up," Dillon said of Rosseel. "Narissa [Suber] unfortunately had to come out of the game with fouls and fortunately, Jasmina hit a couple threes."
The score was knotted at 30 with 12:14 remaining when Marginean, who had only four first-half points, hit a banker from the right baseline and proceeded to rip off Drexel's next seven points during a 9-2 run which put Delaware away for good.
Marginean also finished with a game-high seven rebounds.
The Dragons started off the game scoring the first eight points and held Delaware scoreless for the first 6:37 of the game, but were unable to build on their fast start when the Blue Hens went to a zone and finished with only two field goals the rest of the half.
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