Drexel women use strong fourth quarter to complete a 58-56 comeback victory over Charleston

In a thrilling kickoff to Drexel’s Homecoming Weekend, the Drexel women’s basketball team mounted a stunning comeback victory over the College of Charleston.

With 5 minutes, 43 seconds left in the game, the Dragons trailed by 10 points. However, Drexel coach Amy Mallon was able to push all of the right buttons to walk away with a 58-56 win.

Drexel (8-8, 4-2 Coastal Athletic Association) climbed to fourth place in the Coastal Athletic Association standings and notched its first conference win over a quality opponent.

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Here are our takeaways from the win.

Amaris Baker is as good a player as there is in the CAA. Baker finished with a game-high 19 points, seven of which came in the last 1:06 of the game. While Baker’s ability to put the ball in the basket is certainly remarkable, her impact is felt far outside of the points column. The Philadelphia native’s reputation forces opposing coaches to double and even triple team her, which allows the rest of her Dragons teammates to get cleaner looks.

The Cardinal O’Hara product opened the game with 10 points in the first 10 minutes on 4-for-6 shooting. In the next 28 minutes, Baker collected just two points on 1-for-6 shooting.

Charleston (12-5, 3-3 CAA) was intent on stopping Baker from getting any easy shots. While the defense succeeded in stifling Baker’s scoring, she was still able to help her team.

“Just a lot of patience,” Baker said. “You know they’re going to be very, very physical, but again, it’s a team sport. One through 12, everyone contributes, so, even if I’m sitting down, I’m supporting my teammates and they’re out there competing, having fun and that’s all that matters to me.”

In a game where Mallon’s best player was neutralized for long stretches, her veteran players turned the ball over in the face of pressure and both of her point guards battled foul trouble, Drexel’s coach dug deep into her bag of tricks.

Mallon turned to Laine McGurk, a talented offensive player who has struggled to generate any offense this season, and Iriona Gravley, a freshman who has played sparingly across nine games this season, to help the Dragons’ comeback.

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In the fourth quarter, starters Deja Evans and Grace O’Neil ceded the way to McGurk and Gravley, a move that helped Drexel finally solve Charleston’s high pressure defense.

“McGurk did a great job, a bigger guard, she just pushed the ball down the floor,” Mallon said. “We were hesitating a little bit at the beginning, kind of waiting to see what they were going to do, and when teams do that, if you wait, that’s when they get you.

“And then just the group that was out there, they were doing the things they needed to. [Gravley] was getting touches on the ball, getting rebounds, getting loose balls, and some of those we were missing in the first half, so I think that adjustment as a group really helped us finish the game.”

Senior guard Cara McCormack scored eight of her 13 points in the final frame, cashing in two momentum shifting three-pointers that sent the Daskalakis Athletic Center into a frenzy when they went in.

At times, Drexel was able to break past Charleston’s pressure and create some easy buckets, but the Cougars were generally effective in their strategy and forced 20 turnovers. The Dragons had 14 turnovers in the first half, and finished with more turnovers (10) than points (7) in the second quarter.

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With a change in personnel and strategy, Drexel was able to resolve their turnover problem, and during their 10-point comeback in the final five minutes of the game, Drexel did not turn the ball over once.

“Like any halftime, you go in and you make adjustments on the offensive and defensive end. Obviously, I wasn’t happy with the turnovers we had in the first half, so we did change some things with how we wanted to try to break the pressure,” said Mallon. “We made that adjustment and then they stayed with it, so that really made a big difference.”

The Cougars entered the game with the best offense in the CAA, averaging 75 points per game, while Drexel’s defense ranked fourth in the conference, holding opponents to 59 points per game. In the battle of the two team’s strengths, Drexel imposed its style of play onto Charleston to neutralize the high powered offense.

Charleston shot 28.8% from the floor and were abysmal from beyond the arc, going 2-for-23 from deep. What kept the Cougars’ offense humming was their 20 points on 87% shooting from the free throw line. Drexel’s defense has also kept it afloat this season.

“Our defensive goal was low for this team, but we knew we were going to have to do that to beat them. We knew their ability to score and score fast,” Mallon said. “Those last few minutes felt like forever because you just knew how fast they were going to score.

“We even made an adjustment, we went zone so they couldn’t quickly get a two, and we did a nice job. Those are the moments that we’re going to have to continue to learn from, knowing if we face this team again, what we’re going to see and be ready for it.”

Drexel will host Elon (11-6, 5-1 CAA) on Sunday at the DAC (2 p.m., FloCollege).