Dec. 2, 2015
Teams: Vanderbilt (5-2) at Drexel (2-3)
Day, Date: Thursday, Dec. 3
Tip-off time: 6 p.m.
Site: Daskalakis Athletic Center (Philadelphia, Penn.)
Radio: 560 AM / 95.9 FM
Online Streaming: HERE (DrexelDragons.tv)
After zooming through a 4-0 homestand, the Vanderbilt women are hoping the momentum will carry over to the road on Thursday, when the Commodores (5-2) visit Drexel (3-2). Vanderbilt — which capped the four-game homestand with a blowout victory over Air Force on Monday — will be playing its third road game of the young season. The Commodores have gone 5-0 at Memorial Gym this season but are 0-2 away from Nashville. Drexel, members of the Colonial Athletic Association, will carry a two-game losing streak into Thursday’s game after going winless in a two-day tournament during Thanksgiving (more on that below). Here’s a closer look at the game.
l The skinny on the Commodores: Vanderbilt played impressively in the final week of November, winning four games in the span of seven days (Nov. 23-30). The steak included home victories over Presbyterian, Austin Peay, Ohio and Air Force, with three of the four wins coming by double-digit margins. In Vanderbilt’s most recent game, the Commodores crushed Air Force, 86-29, at Memorial Gym. The final score represented the biggest margin of victory — and the fewest points allowed — by the Commodores since Dec. 21, 2008, when Vanderbilt beat UT-Martin by the identical score, 86-29. …. Vanderbilt has three players averaging double figures in scoring: Jasmine Jenkins (11.3 ppg), Christa Reed (10.6) and Rachel Bell (10.5). …. Rayte’a Long and Marqu’es Webb are tied for the team lead in rebounding at 4.9 per game. … The Commodores are shooting 73.9 percent from the foul line.
l Shaw nominated for All-State Good Works team: Vanderbilt redshirt junior Kendall Shaw is among the nominees for this season’s All-State Good Works team. The nominees were announced on Wednesday. Shaw has been active in the Nashville community throughout her career at Vanderbilt, and recently helped spearhead the Commodores ‘Week of Thanks’ initiative, during which the Commodores collected food and shoes for those in need.
l Milestone Watch: Head coach Melanie Balcomb and the Vanderbilt WBB program are both approaching some nice, round numbers. Balcomb, in her 14th season with the Commodores, enters Thursday’s game needing just three wins to reach 300 victories at Vanderbilt. The Commodores, meanwhile, are closing in on a milestone, too. They need just two more victories to reach the 800-win mark in the program’s history.
l Scouting Drexel: The Dragons aren’t a high-scoring team — averaging just 58 points per game — but they are dangerous from the perimeter, averaging seven 3-pointers per game. They are also strong at the foul line, where they are impressively shooting 80 percent as a team. … The Drexel defense has been solid, surrendering just 59 points per game while limiting opponents to 36 percent shooting from the floor. … Sarah Curran, a 5-11 junior post player, leads the team in both scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (5.4 rpg). She has reached double figures in scoring in each of Drexel’s first five games, including scoring a season-high 23 against St. Bonaventure. Curran was a First Team All-CAA selection last season. … Rachel Pearson, a 5-11 senior guard, is also averaging double figures in scoring at 11 points per game. … Meghan Creighton has already compiled 32 assists this season, more than three times as many as any other player on the team. She is averaging 6.4 assists per game.
l Sizing up the Series: Thursday’s game marks the first-ever meeting between the Commodores and Dragons. The contest represents the fourth time in the past five games that Vanderbilt has faced a first-time foe. This stretch of new opponents has included game against Presbyterian (Nov. 23), Ohio (Nov. 28) and Air Force (Nov. 30). Vanderbilt won each of those games.
l Update on the Dragons: Drexel competed in the Christmas City Classic — which is held, naturally, in Bethlehem, Penn. — last weekend, and the Dragons suffered a pair of losses, falling to Villanova 67-55 in the opening round and losing to Montana 58-50 in the consolation game. Prior to the tournament, Drexel had opened the season by winning two of its first three games. The Dragons posted home victories over Dartmouth and St. Bonaventure, sandwiched around a road loss to then No. 20/19 South Florida.
l Atop the list: Drexel head coach Denise Dillion and Vanderbilt head coach Melanie Balcomb share one impressive achievement: Both are the all-time wins leaders for their respective programs. Balcomb, now in her 14th season at VU, has posted 297 wins with the Commodores and has led the team to 12 NCAA Tournament appearances. Dillion, now in her 13th season at Drexel, has won 216 games. Dillon has led the Dragons to six postseason appearances, including a school-record five in a row. That stretch included the Dragons’ first CAA Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in the 2008-09 season. She earned her second conference Coach of the Year honor that year and followed that with four straight WNIT appearances. In 2013, Dillon led the Dragons to the postseason WNIT championship with a 46-43 win over Utah on the Dragons’ home court.
l VU’s most recent game. Paced by a career-high 20-point effort from Rachel Bell, Vanderbilt rolled to an 86-29 victory over Air Force on Monday night at Memorial Gym. The Commodores (5-2) forced Air Force into 30 turnovers and limited the winless Falcons (0-6) to single-digit scoring in the first, second and fourth quarters. Vanderbilt shot 69 percent from the floor for the game — including a staggering 75 percent in the second half — and had 10 different players reach the scoring column. It was the first time since Jan. 3, 2010 (against Ole Miss) that Vanderbilt shot 70 percent or better in a half. Bell went 8-of-11 from the floor and had two rebounds and one steal. Jasmine Jenkins scored 12 points, finishing 6-of-7 from the floor, and Marqu’es Webb had 11 points and a team-high five rebounds. Vanderbilt reeled off a 27-0 run in the first half — scoring the final 13 points of the first quarter and the first 14 of the second — to build a 35-7 lead. The Commodores also opened the third quarter with another big run — this time, it was a 19-2 surge — to build a 56-13 advantage, and the lead continued to swell the rest of the way.