College of Charleston
9-12; 4-6
Drexel
12-10; 8-3
Luna-Castro Burns Dragons as Cougars Gut Out 49-46 Win
2/7/2016 9:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The College of Charleston women's basketball team (9-12; 4-6 vs. CAA) bounced back in a huge way Sunday afternoon, halting the Drexel Dragons' six-game winning streak with a gritty come-from-behind 49-46 win.
With the game tied, at 46-46, Drexel's Meghan Creighton missed a long-range strike, giving the Cougars the ball with under 30 seconds remaining. The Dragons played good defense on the other end with CofC cycling the ball around looking for a clean look.
With almost no time left and the game appeared headed for overtime, Jackie Luna-Castro was fouled attempting a three-point shot, sending her to the line where she knocked down all three attempts. A clock readjustment and several timeouts later, Rachel Pearson couldn't hit the extremely deep desperation three, and the Cougars escaped with the win.
Luna-Castro finished the game matching a career-high 22 points, while also adding nine rebounds and a pair of blocks. Breanna Bolden was the other big difference-maker for the College, with 14 points, eight rebounds and two steals while playing all 40 minutes. Kelsey Booth was a terror on the glass in her own right, yanking down nine boards.
“I give a lot of credit to my teammates today,” Luna-Castro said. “Our guards were pushing the ball and making good passes, and we were playing good defense which led to points in the transition which is what got me going. Even the players on the bench for us were big, because I was feeding off of their energy.”
After a fairly even and uneventful first fifteen minutes of the game, Drexel exploded in the final five minutes of the second frame, ripping off a 13-2 run to head to the locker room with a 27-18 advantage.
In the third, the Cougars came roaring back, outscoring the Dragons 18-11 in large part thanks to Luna-Castro's 10 points in the quarter. Drexel led 38-36, and three more ties and three more lead changes later, the Cougars secured the victory down the stretch. Nola Henry didn't have a huge stat-line, but drove into the paint on two different occasions to hit a running layup that either tied the game or gave CofC the lead.
With the exception of the turnover battle which Drexel won 4 to 13, CofC came out on top in almost all other key categories, particularly from the charity stripe, where the Cougars converted all 12 of their attempts compared to Drexel's 3-of-4 night. The College took 20 fewer field goal attempts (43) than Drexel, who had a shooting night to forget (18-of-63). Of particular note, Sarah Curran, Drexel's leading scorer coming into the game at 16.0 PPG, struggled mightily going 3-of-21 from the field.
With the loss, Drexel (12-10; 8-3 vs. CAA) falls behind Hofstra into third place in the conference. Conversely, CofC's win brings them to 4-6 on the year, and coupled with William & Mary's 59-44 loss to UNCW, jumps the Cougars up to sixth place.
Having spent the last three games at home, the Cougars will once again hit the road for their next game, which will pit them against the Delaware Blue Hens (11-11; 6-5 vs. CAA) on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Bob Carpenter Center.
