Drexel women fall to Army

The Drexel women's basketball team could not capitalize on a second-half rally and fell to Army, 55-49, yesterday in a nonconference game at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

The loss prevented a women's sweep of the armed forces in games played in West Philadelphia.

Earlier, Penn picked up its first win by beating Navy, 61-58, at the Palestra.

In the Drexel game, Army (4-4) rolled to a 32-24 halftime lead before Drexel (3-4) began to click.

The Dragons went on a 9-0 run to take a 33-32 lead with 12 minutes, 35 seconds remaining in the game.

Drexel pushed the advantage to three points before Army regained control at 43-42 on Erin Anthony's layup with 5:53 left.

Though the Dragons had several chances to win, Army stayed ahead.

"We got outworked; that's the bottom line," Drexel coach Denise Dillon said. "Their team came in and did the little things, like rebounding - that was a major factor."

The Knights more than doubled the Dragons' total on the backboards, 41-20, though Drexel hounded Army into 22 turnovers while committing just 13 miscues.

"We definitely worked hard to come back, but we didn't maintain it," Dillon said.

Gabriela Marginean had 25 points but was the only Drexel player to score in double figures.

Army's Anthony had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Alex McGuire added 10 points.

"We did some great things in the first half by making tough shots," Army coach Dave McGarrity said. "Drexel did a terrific job getting into us at the start of the second half, and we did not execute well under pressure."

McGarrity, a native of Philadelphia who was a longtime men's coach at Marist, had a large contingent of family at the game.

He was promoted from assistant coach to his current job in spring 2006 after the death of Maggie Dixon a few days after the NCAA tournament. Dixon had led Army to the Patriot League title and its first NCAA berth in her first season as head coach.

Penn 61, Navy 58 -

Carrie Biemer scored 23 points for the Quakers (1-6). Sarah Bucar, who hit key shots down the stretch, finished with 16 points.

K.C. Gordon had a team-high 13 points for Navy (4-6), while Angela Meyers scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.