Lehigh Shoots 52% and Dominates Glass to Hand Drexel First Loss, 71-57

By Tiffany Williams –

Drexel walked into Stabler Arena undefeated. They walked out with their first bruise of the season and a whole lot of problems they never solved.

Lehigh smashed the Dragons 71-57 on Wednesday night, riding a breakout barrage from first-year force Leia Edwards, who shredded Drexel for 22 points, five boards and six assists. She carved them up all night long as the Mountain Hawks shot a blistering 52 percent and piled up 17 assists while Drexel’s offense kept coughing and sputtering.

Drexel actually hung around early, trailing just 15-12 after the first quarter, but the second period was a disaster. Lehigh doubled them up 18-9, slapped a 9-4 run on them to close the half and strutted into the locker room up 33-21 while Drexel’s shooters kept bricking away. The Dragons hit just three triples all night and never recovered from the avalanche Lehigh triggered before halftime.

The third quarter gave Drexel a pulse for a minute. A 14-point burst cut the deficit to single digits, and Drexel even outscored Lehigh 18-16 in the frame. But every time the Dragons tugged, the Mountain Hawks yanked harder. Edwards kept dealing, Jessie Ozzauto hammered in 17 points, and Lily Fandre posted 14 with nine rebounds as Lehigh kept punching back.

And then they finished the job in the fourth. Lehigh poured in 22 more points, stretched the lead as high as 20 after Fandre hit two free throws, and coolly dropped 4-of-6 from the stripe down the stretch to slam the door. Drexel forced turnovers—seven of them in the final quarter—but couldn’t cash them in, clanking chance after chance as Lehigh’s defense swallowed them whole.

Amaris Baker was the lone Drexel bright spot with 21 points, while Laine McGurk added 10 and Grace O’Neill grabbed 10 rebounds. But the Dragons were outshot, outmuscled, and outplayed wire to wire.

Drexel, now 4-1, heads to Newark next to face NJIT on Saturday. Lehigh moves to 2-3 and packs its bags for northern California, drawing Stanford next before a date with San Francisco.