The Triangle

Issue date: 2/27/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Aaron Walizer

Media Credit: Aaron Walizer

"We're number one!"

That is the chant the Dragons walked off the court to Thursday evening after defeating the Virginia Commonwealth Rams 74-69 in overtime Feb. 26 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

Drexel, previously tied atop the conference with the Rams, is now in sole possession of first place in the Colonial Athletic Association.

"It's been a long road, but our girls definitely put themselves in a position to make this happen," Head Coach Denise Dillon said. "Coming into tonight's game, we knew it was going to be a battle."

Drexel jumped out to a 10-point lead midway through the first half, but nine minutes into the second half, they were tied again.

Junior forward Gabriela Marginean had an off game, but still managed to score 22 points and grab nine boards. She also made 14-of-16 from the free-throw line.

"She didn't shoot the ball well, but the hustle plays were key when she made them happen," Dillon said.

Marginean also set the all-time single-season scoring record with her first basket of the game.

"Those records, she's not aware of them," Dillon said.

"They're going to be broken just in the flow of continued play."

One other storyline in the game was junior forward Jennifer Stjarnstrom. She celebrated her 22nd birthday by scoring a career-high 12 points. She also played extremely well on the defensive end, holding VCU's 6'5 center Quanitra Hollingsworth to just 16 points on nine shots.

"I was just so happy to see Jennifer reading what the defense was giving her," Dillon said. "If they came at her, she was going by and making some key buckets, and then when they stepped up, she hit the three. She just played a heads-up game."

Along with Marginean, sophomore guard Jasmina Rosseel also struggled from the field, making just 4-of-14 shots.

But with 35 seconds remaining in overtime, Rosseel netted a 3-point basket to break a 67-67 tie and give the Dragons a lead that they would never relinquish.

"She's doing her job," Dillon said of her 5-foot-8 guard. "Her job is to take the shot when she's open. That was a key bucket for us at that point in the game."

As for the rest of her team, Dillon was extremely proud of their performance.

"You're seeing the mentality change. They're remaining tough," Dillon said. "Shots might not be falling but they're keeping their heads in the game, and they're not quitting at any point. Our leaders and our captains are doing a great job and we'd like to see Brooke [Cornish] out there a little bit more, but she's just coming off the foot [injury]. Nicole and [Andrea] are just doing a great job keeping the team steady, keeping their heads in the game and not letting them quit because they want this year to be the best yet," Dillon said of her veteran players and their performance in the clutch.

With a crowd of 1,500-plus fans in attendance, the team was able to notch its 19th win this season.

"We were happy to have [our first-place win] here at the DAC," Dillon said. "The fans were tremendous, absolutely tremendous. The DAC Pack has worked hard to get all these people here and we couldn't be happier with the support. I think that's how you pull out the win."

Since there were so many screaming Dragon fans, the officials had almost every call scrutinized.

"It was a very physical game, so it was tough for the officials to balance what to call and what not to call," Dillon said.

The fans did give some extra energy to the team, especially during the points when Drexel would try and put pressure of the Rams.

"[The full-court press] is the only reason we came back," Dillon said. "Everyone talks about the home court giving you an extra five points; we won the game by five."

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