Nov. 15, 2016
Teams: Vanderbilt (1-1) vs. Drexel (2-0)
Day, Date: Wednesday, Nov. 16
Tip-off time: 7 p.m. (CT)
Site: Memorial Gym (Nashville, Tenn.)
Radio: WNSR 560 AM / 95.9 FM
TV: SECN+ (Online: ESPN3. Link: HERE)
Game Notes:Vanderbilt Game Notes (Drexel) 
l Drexel Game Notes
First-year head coach Stephanie White and the Commodores open a three-game homestand on Wednesday night, hosting Drexel at Memorial Gym. The Commodores (1-1) will be looking to bounce back from Sunday’s 94-61 road loss to No. 23 Indiana. But Vanderbilt will have a difficult assignment against the Dragons (2-0), who have sailed to victories over Delaware State and Penn State to open the season. Wednesday’s game is the back half of a home-and-home series between the teams, with Vanderbilt posting a 74-64 win last season in Philadelphia. Here’s a closer look at Wednesday’s game:
l Update on the Commodores: The first few days of the season were literally up and down for the Dores, who notched a 32-point win on Friday and suffered a 33-point loss on Sunday. The eventful three-day stretch started with an 86-54 victory over Kennesaw State in head coach Stephanie White’s debut, followed by a 94-61 defeat to No. 23 Indiana in the Commodores’ first road game. … Rebekah Dahlman is leading VU in scoring at 11.5 ppg and Marqu’es Webb has averaged 10 points and a team-high 10.5 rebounds per game.
l What’s trending: The Commodores have shot 43.9 percent from 3-point range in the first two games, including going 14-of-26 against Kennesaw State. Vanderbilt is currently ranked No. 33 in the nation, and fourth in the conference, in 3-point accuracy. … Junior guard Rachel Bell ranks No. 10 in the SEC in career 3-pointers among active players with 73. … Senior post player Marqu’es Webb is tied for fifth in the SEC in rebounding at 10.5 rpg.
l The lowdown on Drexel: Wednesday’s game is the first road test of the season for the Dragons after they opened the season with two straight home wins, downing Penn State, 83-60, and beating Delaware State 69-44 . … Drexel hit 264 three-pointers last year, most in CAA history, and are off to a big start this year, too. The Dragons made 11 3-pointers in the season opener against Penn State. Jessica Pellechio hit eight 3-pointers to set a new single-game school record. … Sarah Curran was named a First Team All-CAA performer the last two seasons. She was the first Dragon since Marginean to earn two-career First Team recognitions. She now has 1,151 career points, 15th all-time in Drexel women’s basketball history. Curran has reached double figures in both games this year after starting last season with seven-consecutive double-digit outputs.
l Series History: Sunday’s game is just the second all-time meeting between the Commodores and Dragons. Vanderbilt defeated Drexel 74-64 last season on Dec. 3, 2015, in Philadelphia. Rachel Bell scored a career-high 24 points, going 10-of-14 from the floor, as Vanderbilt won its fifth straight game. Kristen Gaffney finished with 11 points and Jasmine Jenkins and Christa Reed added 10 each. Vanderbilt controlled the contest much of the way until Drexel put together a 10-2 run in the fourth quarter to pull within 59-50. But the Commodores responded with six straight free throws, including four by Minta Spears, to rebuild a 65-50 lead, and Drexel never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
l Don’t bother boxing out: Vanderbilt and Drexel have both been effective from the free throw line in their first two games. The Dragons are shooting 91.4 percent from the line, having made 32 of 35 attempts this season. Vanderbilt is shooting 83.3 percent, going 25-of-30. Combined, the teams are shooting 87.6 percent (57-of-65).
l New leader: Stephanie White is in her first season with the Commodores after being named head coach on May 24. Becoming just the fifth head coach in the program’s history, White replaced former head coach Melanie Balcomb, who resigned in April after 14 seasons with the team. White came to Vanderbilt after spending two seasons as head coach of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever. She led the team to the playoffs each season, including guiding the Fever to the 2015 WNBA Finals in her rookie season to become the first rookie coach in league history to take a team to the finals.
l Charting the freshman: Vanderbilt’s touted freshmen class has already made an impact. The five-member group — LeaLea Carter, Erin Whalen, Kayla Overbeck, Cierra Walker and Kaleigh Clemons-Green — has combined for an average of 32.5 points and 13 rebounds in the Commodores’ first two contests. Thus far, the scoring has been very balanced among the group: Walker and Clemons-Green are both averaging 7.0 points per game , Whalen and Overbeck are both at 6.5 ppg, and Carter is averaging 5.5.
l Mad success at Memorial: Vanderbilt has posted a 46-3 against non-conference foes at Memorial Gym since the start of the 2010-11 campaign, and enters Sunday’s game having won 10 straight non-conference home games. … Dating back to the start of the 2002-03 season, VU owns a 96-8 record on its home floor in regular-season, non-conference games, including 8-0 last season. The Commodores have gone 15-1 against non-conference opponents at home since the start of the 2014-15 season.
l Signing Day: Comprising the inaugural signing class of Vanderbilt first-year head coach Stephanie White, a pair of highly-rated recruits — Autumn Newby and Chelsie Hall — signed National Letters of Intent with the Vanderbilt women’s basketball team on Nov. 8. Newby is a 6-2 forward from Archer High in Lawrenceville, Ga., who averaged 12.7 points and 12.6 rebounds per game last season. Hall is a 5-7 point guard from Seffner Christian Academy in Tampa, Fla., who averaged 21.2 points per game last year. Together, the two players form a signing class that was ranked No. 23 in the nation by BlueStar Report on Wednesday. (Newby was ranked by BlueStar as the No. 20 overall prospect and Hall was ranked No. 28).
l Looking ahead: Vanderbilt is back at Memorial Gym on Sunday, hosting Duke at 2 p.m.