Kylie Lavelle Scores 28, Keishana Washington Hands Out 11 Assists
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 2/10/2023 –
The Drexel Dragons climbed to the top of the Colonial Athletic Association standings. The Dragons are on a five-game winning streak defeating the College of Charleston Cougars 86 – 61 at the DAC. The biggest reason for the victory can be explained by the versatility the Dragons showed on the floor. The scorers assisted, the bigs rebounded, and the Dragons played team ball assisting 24 times on 32 baskets, their third highest assist total of this season. Coach Amy Mallon said, “that’s Drexel Basketball.”
The Dragons have a lot of players who can do many different things, and it showed in this game.
Washington Affected the Game in Many Ways
Graduate guard Keishana Washington did not have a great shooting night sinking 6 of 18 and only one from distance. However, she did show versatility in getting her second double-double of the season scoring 21 points and handed out a career-high 11 assists. Washington also pulled down 7 rebounds. She was close to a triple-double and is working on that. The graduate guard scored in double-digits for the 57th consecutive game. When the Dragons are working together, they can be tough to beat.
“It definitely makes it difficult because we have a lot of weapons,” said Washington. “You can’t key in on just me because Kyi (Kylie Lavelle) can get a lot of points. You can’t keep them on the two of us because then you have Firm (Maura Hendrixson) who will step in and knock down threes. Or you have Jas (Jasmine Valentine) that can clean up on the boards and get an easy put back. I think it’s going to make it tough especially heading into the tournament for teams to guard us.”
Let’s show how.
Game-High in points for Lavelle
Kylie Lavelle scored a team-best 28 points. The freshman was three-points shy of her collegiate-best, making 12 of 21 from the floor and was 4 for 5 from the charity stripe. She was a force inside, and credits that to her teammmates.
“I just let the game come to me,” said Lavelle. “My teammates found me. We executed all of our plays. I was just open around the basket and running the floor.”
So Many Contributors
Grace O’Neill was the other double-figures scorer for the Dragons getting 10 points. Chloe Hodges added 9 points. On the glass Jasmine Valentine pulled down a game-high 8 boards, and Hetta Saatman had 5 caroms. Guard Maura Hendrixson handed out 8 assists.
So Versatile
Saatman and Valentine rebounded. Hendrixson assisted. Lavelle scored. Washington did a bit of everything. And the defense held Charleston to 35.5% shooting (22 of 62) and 3 of 12 from beyond the arc.
“Tonight was great because we had so many contributions,” Mallon said. “What they are able to do at different times. It makes it hard for you to zone in on one person. Washington is a special player. She leads us in every way. But she is making other people believe that they can do the things they are capable of doing all within what they are capable of. I think that is our strength right now. Knowing our roles and understanding those and doing them at a high level.”
Up Next
Drexel heads to Monmouth on Sundy for an important CAA February game.
“February is really when you start separating yourself especially in conference,” Mallon said. “Making sure you are taking care of business. That’s big right now for February that we continue to hold steady with what we are doing. If we do that, I think we can be successful trying to start that separation.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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