Crusader Women Take Down Drew in Come-from-Behind Fashion

Box Score

SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Despite being down by 11 points in the first half, the Susquehanna women’s basketball team came back in the second half to defeat Drew 62-59 for the Crusaders’ first Landmark Conference victory of the season.

Four players reached double figures for a SU (4-9, 1-1) offense that shot 40 percent from the field and better than 53 percent from three-point range.

Korey McCaffrey (Millheim, Pa./Penns Valley Area) led the way with a 22-point effort, with 12 of those points from three-point range. Freshman guard Eleni Dimou (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh) chipped in 12 points and five assists while Gina Palazzi (Newfoundland, Pa./Wallenpaupack) had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards.

Also reaching double figures was Samantha Pelletier (Harwinton, Conn./Lewis S. Mills), who had 11 in her 20 minutes off the bench.

Defensively, the Crusaders forced 31 Drew (4-7, 1-1) turnovers and also had 11 steals, led by three from both Ariana Stowe (Bethesda, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) and McCaffrey. Those 31 Ranger turnovers led to 21 Susquehanna points.

The first half saw Drew jump out to a quick, 9-2 lead before a Palazzi layup at 15:25 cut the lead to five (11-6). With 8:05 on the clock, the Rangers took their first double-digit lead (19-8) on a Brianna Reich layup.

They remained ahead by 10 (28-18) with 1:18 to play in the half before Palazzi closed out the first-half scoring with a layup at the one-minute mark to make it 28-20.

The second half was all SU as the Crusaders out-scored the Rangers 42-31 and shot 50 percent from the floor and nearly 86 percent from beyond the arc and at the free throw line.

A Dimou layup a little more than three minutes into the half cut the lead to three (33-30) and with 11:20 to play, freshman Nora Joyce (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton) kept it a three-point game (40-37) with a layup of her own.

With 7:10 remaining, Dimou sank a three to make it 52-50 and followed that with a layup on SU’s next possession 30 seconds later to knot the game at 52. That layup was part of three-point play by Dimou that handed SU its first lead of the game at 53-52.

Drew never again regained the lead. SU led by four, its largest lead of the evening, after two Amarra Boone (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) free throws made it 57-53 with 3:22 on the clock.

A three from the Rangers’ Danielle Barber made it a one-point contest (60-59), but two McCaffrey free throws with two seconds to play sealed the win for the Crusaders.

SU finishes the two-game conference homestand on Sunday with a 4 p.m. game against USMMA.