The Monmouth Hawks (12-10) narrowly defeated the Drexel Dragons (12-9) by the score of 50-47 this past Friday (2/7/24) at the Ocean First Bank Center. The Hawks have advanced to an impressive 7-4 record in CAA play and are now 8-3 when playing at home.
Graduate center Belle Kranbuhl made her presence known on the court, leading the team with 15 points. Kranbuhl also played a key role on defense, putting up a statline of 8 rebounds and 5 blocks.
Fifth year forward Taisha Exanor had a stellar day, putting up 13 points and 11 rebounds, which was her 6th double-double of the season.
The Hawks were dominant in the paint, which helped them secure victory. They out rebounded Drexel 44-32 and scored 22 points in the paint compared to Drexel’s 16 points.
Monmouth started off the game well, taking a 7-0 lead with 5:23 left in the first quarter after Exanor hit a three pointer.
Drexel finally found some offense late in the first quarter, but the Hawks did not let up, resulting in the Hawks finishing the first quarter with an 11-6 lead.
The Hawks took control once again in the start of the second quarter as they went on a 9-0 run that ended after a layup from sophomore forward Divine Dibula that put the score at 22-11 with 5:01 before halftime.
Drexel fought back late in the second quarter and cut the Hawks lead to a score of 24-18 going into halftime.
Once the third quarter began, the Dragons went on a run of their own and eventually took a 32-30 lead with 3:19 left in the third quarter after a made jumper by junior guard Grace O’Neill.
The Hawks quickly took the lead back and were up by 3 points with less than a minutes left in the third quarter, but Drexel’s O’Neill sunk a three point shot with 0:41 left in the third quarter, which made the two teams all knotted up at 37-37 going into the 4th quarter.
Monmouth’s offense had a slow start in the 4th quarter which Drexel took advantage of, taking a quick 47-41 lead over the Hawks with 3:34 remaining in the game.
The Hawks proved that they have the ability to thrive in clutch moments, as their impressive defensive play would not allow Drexel to score a single point in the final 3 minutes of the game.
Along with their great defensive play, the Hawks went on a 9-0 run in the last 2:42 of the game, which included a clutch jumper made by fifth year guard Damaris Rodriguez to take a 48-47 lead over the Dragons with 1:11 left in the game.
Kranbuhl extended the Hawks lead to 3 points after a successful layup with 8 seconds remaining in the game, putting the score at 50-47.
Drexel would have a chance to tie the game in the final seconds, but was unsuccessful thanks to a great defensive stand by Monmouth, which sealed the 50-47 victory for the Hawks.
The Hawks will look to stretch their 2 game winning streak to 3, when they travel to the University of Delaware in a matchup versus the Delaware Blue Hens (7-14) on Friday (2/14/25).
The game will be played at Bob Carpenter Center at 6:30 p.m.
