Drew women's basketball put in another strong effort, but in the end were overrun by the #18 Moravian Greyhounds, 86-60. A night after facing #8 Scranton, the Rangers battled the Greyhounds, but were unable to put together the big charge needed to threaten an upset. Danielle Barber led all scorers with 21 points while Alyssa Bisci led five Greyhounds in double-figures with 17 points. Drew suffers its third straight loss to fall to 9-3, 1-2 in the Landmark Conference while Moravian improves to 11-2, 3-0 in conference play.
The Rangers put themselves in a hole with a slow start as Moravian jumped out to an 11 point lead within the first six minutes of play on Alexandra Blair's jumper, 15-4. Drew was able to counter punch a few times, through a jumper from Barber and three pointers by Dana Coronato and Kat Luby, but each time the Greyhounds had answer. The Rangers trailed by ten with five minutes left after a Luby triple from DelVecchio's assist made it 27-17, but Moravian finished the half on an 18-9 run capped by Jessica Foran's three point play with five seconds left in the half. After a last second jumper by Dana Coronato fell as the buzzer sounded, the teams went into the break at 45-26.
Drew started the second half well, fighting to cut the lead down to 15 in five minutes of play. Eden Blazovic had three early baskets before succumbing to foul trouble as the Rangers pulled to with 52-37. Unfortunately, the struggle to get back into the game left the Rangers vulnerable to another Greyhound run. Moravian used its advantage inside to reel off a 15-4 streak with Blair scoring eight straight points and put the guests up 67-41. Despite their best efforts, the Rangers could not pull any closer and at the five minute mark trailed by a game-high 29 points, 80-51.
With 4:44 left in the game, a key moment in the game occurred that isn't reflected in the final score. Drew was at this point down by that same score and had just committed one of their 27 turnovers against the Greyhounds' high pressure defense. Despite that adversity, the Rangers went into a full court press on the ensuing in-bound and the defense swarmed to force a turnover on a five-second violation. Drew took advantage of the possession with a Coronato three pointer that cut the lead to a still too-large 80-54, but the max effort showed by the Rangers when the game had already been effectively lost drew a nice round of applause from the crowd and their teammates on the bench. In fact, even as the game's final seconds wound down, the Ranger bench was on its feet supporting the defensive effort of the players on the court.
Effort isn't everything, tough, and the talented, deep Greyhounds proved it. Moravian shot 43.1% from the field, including a startling 59.3% in the first half. They also outrebounded Drew 45-32. Among the many good performances were Blair's 13 points and five rebounds and Kirsty Stearns 11 and seven.
For Drew, Barber had another strong game with 21 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Coronato continues to be a spark off the bench with 12 points and three steals. Victoria Ault had a solid game, playing tough defense and grabbing three rebounds. Foul trouble haunted Blazovic (8 points, four boards) and Jessica Reid (four points and seven rebounds). While Drew can take pride in the 22 turnovers they caused, the 27 committed ruins the turnover margin.
Drew has a full week off before making a critical trip down to Goucher and Catholic. The Rangers hopes of reaching the playoffs rely more on beating comparable teams like the Gophers and Cardinals than upsetting Top 20 teams like Scranton and Moravian.
Newspaper Box Score
Moravain Greyhounds vs Drew Rangers
1/9/2010 6:15 pm at Baldwin Gym, Madison, NJ
At Baldwin Gym, Madison, NJ
Moravian 86, DREW RANGERS 60
Moravian (11-2, 3-0)
Alyssa Bisci 5-8 5-6 17; Alexandra Blair 5-11 3-3 13; Jessica Foran 4-6 3-3
12; Kirsty Stearns 1-7 9-12 11; Kate Harrison 5-10 1-1 11; Hilary Murray 2-5
2-4 6; Emily Smith 2-3 1-2 5; Amanda Brown 2-3 0-0 5; Amie Ballo 1-5 1-4 3;
Cassandra Phillips 1-4 0-0 3; Alyson Steltz 0-2 0-0 0; Amanda Kreuder 0-1
0-0 0. Totals 28-65 25-35 86.
DREW RANGERS (9-3, 1-2)
Danielle Barber 7-19 7-8 21; Dana Coronato 4-12 1-2 12; Eden Blazovic 4-6
0-0 8; Katherine Luby 2-6 0-0 5; Jessica DelVecchio 2-5 0-0 5; Jessica Reid
2-6 0-0 4; Victoria Ault 0-3 3-4 3; Rebecca Smith 0-1 2-2 2; Jen Mateo 0-2
0-0 0; Whitney Mackay 0-1 0-0 0; Katherine Kozma 0-2 0-0 0; Jana Jagodzinski
0-3 0-0 0. Totals 21-66 13-16 60.
MORW.......................... 45 41 - 86
Drew Rangers.................. 26 34 - 60
3-point goals--MORW 5-9 (Alyssa Bisci 2-2; Cassandra Phillips 1-1; Jessica
Foran 1-2; Amanda Brown 1-2; Hilary Murray 0-2), Drew Rangers 5-18 (Dana
Coronato 3-4; Jessica DelVecchio 1-3; Katherine Luby 1-3; Victoria Ault 0-1;
Jen Mateo 0-2; Whitney Mackay 0-1; Jana Jagodzinski 0-1; Danielle Barber
0-3). Fouled out--MORW-None, Drew Rangers-Eden Blazovic. Rebounds--MORW 45
(Kirsty Stearns 7; Emily Smith 7; Amie Ballo 7), Drew Rangers 32 (Jessica
Reid 7). Assists--MORW 11 (Hilary Murray 3; Kate Harrison 3), Drew Rangers
11 (Danielle Barber 5). Total fouls--MORW 16, Drew Rangers 27. Technical
fouls--MORW-None, Drew Rangers-None. A-117
