Drexel Women Beat UNC Wilmington 59-47

(Philadelphia – PA) Drexel’s Women’s basketball team overcame a slow start to top the UNCW Seahawks 59-47. The Dragons were led by Taylor Wootton and Hollie Mershon who combined for 44 total points. Both players were perfect from the free-throw line, going 4-4 and 6-6 respectively. Wootton’s timely buckets were Drexel’s answer to UNCW’s spark-plug Kelva Akins.

The Dragons fell behind early at home 7-2, but with strong defense, UNCW’s lead never got above six points. Drexel forced 14 first half turnovers and somehow with a shooting percentage of 25.8% lead 18-17 at the half. The Dragons clearly needed halftime to regroup and reset the front court game. The Drexel ladies came into the second half on fire, hitting back-to-back threes that led the team to a 13-0 run that was part of the first half into the second half. Drexel went from shooting 8-31 (25.8%) in the first half to shooting 14-25 (56.0%) in the second half.

UNCW did have an answer to Drexel’s runs in the second half as flashy bench player Kelva Aktins scored a team-high 17 points all in the second half.  Aktins hit several clutch shots in the second half, including a key 3-pointer that cut Drexel’s lead to four points to make it 44-40. Drexel countered UNCW’s outside game with a strong low game from Taylor Wootton.

Drexel improved to (10-3) in CAA play (third), while UNCW dropped to a tie for last place at (2-11). Drexel will continue its home stand with games against George Mason Thursday Feb. 21st and William & Mary Sunday Feb. 24th.  UNCW will head back to North Carolina to face Northeastern Sunday Feb. 24.

Note:

Drexel players wore pink shirts in warm-up to show their support for breast cancer. During the game, many of the players wore pink head bands, shoe laces and socks. Drexel’s head coach Denise Dillon wore a pink dress shirt, as did many of the Drexel staff and fans.