The Battle of Mad Ave lived up to its name as Drew's women's basketball fought to a thrilling 51-46 win over the FDU Devils in Baldwin Gym on Wednesday night. Danielle Barber made a number of big plays down the stretch as the Rangers held off a late surge by the visiting Devils. Drew's defense and Jess DelVecchio, in particular, did a great job shutting down FDU's top scorer, Danielle Michlovsky, to pull out the huge non-conference win. The Rangers are now 2-0 on the season.
The first half ended at 28-22 despite the Rangers holding an 11 point lead during the period. Neither team shot the ball well at the beginning of the game as it took the Rangers nearly six minutes to build a 10-6 lead. Drew got to that advantage from a three by DelVecchio off a Barber assist and then a reverse of that connection with Barber drilling off DelVecchio's feed.
A short 7-1 spurt by the Rangers in the middle of the half gave Drew a 24-13 lead. Two low-post newcomers, Britta Olsen and Rebecca Smith, helped out in the run with buckets. FDU would cut that lead to 26-21 within minutes as Courtney Young knocked down a pair of jumpers and Meghan Lentine scored off Young's assist with 2:19 left in the half. After an Olsen bucket, Michlovsky's free throw was the half's final tally.
The second half began with a barren spell from both squads before the game found its pace and turned into the intense, physical encounter that one would expect for the rivalry. DelVecchio sparked the Rangers' first run of the half with a steal and a three on the ensuing possession. Eden Blazovic then showed the talent that made her such a key recruit in the offseason. The forward grabbed an offensive rebound and then knocked down a jumper for a 33-23 lead. The first-year then proved that she can run the court as well as any post player in the Ranger program for a few years; she stole the ball at one end and was then on the receiving end of a slick pass from Barber for a fast break layup just moments later. That hoop by Blazovic gave Drew a 12 point, 35-23, lead, the largest of the game.
The Devils called a timeout and regrouped well. Seven straight points from Shealyn Taggart cut the lead to six points with 12:17 left in the game. FDU would cut it to two points on a Shannon Smith free throw four minutes later before Barber would drag the Rangers back to an eight point advantage. The sophomore hit a pair of free throws to make it 39-35 with 7:10 left. On FDU's next possession, she grabbed a defensive rebound and then started a fast break which finished with her setting up Jessica Reid with a nice look. After a Taggart hoop, Barber found Reid again for a layup. With four minutes left, Barber did it herself with a steal and breakaway layup for a 45-37 score.
The key to the game by this point had been DelVecchio's incredible defensive effort on Michlovsky. The senior forward had been averaging 21 points per game this season, but JDV had frustrated the FDU star to the point of exasperation and forcing her into bad turnovers. FDU's supporting cast had to make some plays again to pull the lead back down to four points with under three minutes to play. Shannon Smith converted a layup before Courtney Young old-school three-pointer made it 45-42. Michlovsky then scored her only points from the field in the entire game with a jumper at the 2:51 to counter DelVecchio's free throw at the other end.
The score remained 46-44 into the final 90 seconds of the game when Barber again came up big. She knocked down a jumper off JDV's assist to bring the score to 48-44, but Michlovsky made one of two free throws to make it a one possession game again.
The Rangers made it tough on their fans in the final minute of play. Back-to-back turnovers gave the Devils two chances to tie up, but both times the Ranger defense shut them down. With 21 seconds left, Barber stripped Young, but was then stripped by Smith. Smith hit one of two and the Devils now trailed by just two, 48-46. Back at the other end Barber drew a foul to get to the line with 15 seconds left. She hit one of two as well, but once again the Rangers' D forced the Devils into a rushed three pointer that Barber rebounded. This time, she hit both of her free throws and the Rangers ran out the time on a 51-46 victory.
The Rangers have so many positives to take away from the game besides simply a tough win over a fierce rival. Drew shot just 29.5% on the day and hit just 5-17 three pointers. The Rangers won just one game last season when they shot that poorly from the field, but they showed that they will have the variety of offensive weapons to compete even when cold from the floor this season. The Rangers got 20 points and 20 rebounds combined from Blazovic, Reid, Smith and Olsen in day's win to help overcome an off day from reigning Landmark Player of the Week Kat Luby. Certainly, another huge game from Barber (18 pts, six rebounds, six assists and four steals) helped. Drew did get out rebounded again, but by forcing 23 turnovers it was able to overcome the opponent's second chances.
DelVecchio finished with 13 points and Reid had eight. Young led the Devils with 14 points while Taggart came on strong in the second half to finish with 11. Michlovsky had seven points and ten boards.
The Rangers will look to improved to 3-0 on Friday when they go for the Madison/Florham/Convent Station sweep in a match up with St. Elizabeth's at the Ramapo Tournament. But, they can already claim to be Champions of Madison Avenue for at least one year.
Newspaper Box Score
FDUW0910 vs Drew Rangers
11/18/09 6:00 at Baldwin Gym
At Baldwin Gym
DREW RANGERS 51, FDUW0910 46
FDUW0910 (1-2)
Courtney Young 6-15 1-1 14; Shealyn Taggart 4-18 2-2 11; Meghan Lentine 2-5
4-6 8; Danielle Michlovsky 1-3 5-10 7; Shannon Smith 2-4 2-4 6; Alex Katz
0-0 0-0 0; Matil Mangual 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 15-48 14-23 46.
DREW RANGERS (2-0)
Danielle Barber 5-18 7-10 18; Jessica DelVecchio 4-9 1-2 13; Jessica Reid
4-5 0-0 8; Eden Blazovic 3-7 0-0 6; Britta Olsen 1-4 2-3 4; Rebecca Smith
1-6 0-0 2; Jana Jagodzinski 0-2 0-0 0; Ashley Logan 0-1 0-0 0; Victoria Ault
0-3 0-0 0; Katherine Luby 0-5 0-0 0; Jen Mateo 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-61 10-15
51.
FDUW0910...................... 22 24 - 46
Drew Rangers.................. 28 23 - 51
3-point goals--FDUW0910 2-9 (Courtney Young 1-4; Shealyn Taggart 1-5), Drew
Rangers 5-17 (Jessica DelVecchio 4-8; Danielle Barber 1-3; Jana Jagodzinski
0-1; Victoria Ault 0-1; Katherine Luby 0-4). Fouled out--FDUW0910-None, Drew
Rangers-None. Rebounds--FDUW0910 46 (Danielle Michlovsky 10), Drew Rangers
33 (Britta Olsen 7). Assists--FDUW0910 6 (Courtney Young 3), Drew Rangers 12
(Danielle Barber 6). Total fouls--FDUW0910 13, Drew Rangers 16. Technical
fouls--FDUW0910-None, Drew Rangers-None. A-237
