Drexel snaps Campbell's undefeated home win streak on #Play4Kay night, 60-54

Buies Creek, NC- Friday night's matchup between Drexel and Campbell featured the 2nd and 3rd place teams, respectively, in the CAA WBB standings. So far this season, both teams have played clamp-down defense, ranking 37th (Drexel) and 57th (Campbell) in the nation in scoring defense.

“We are two very similar teams”, Drexel Head Coach Amy Mallon told me. Both Drexel and Campbell have done a chunk of their winning this season at home, with the Dragons 11-1 at the Daskalakis Athletic Center and the Camels 10-0 at Gore Arena. However, in this contest, the road team prevailed.

After Campbell scored the first basket on a Gemma Núñez layup, Drexel went on a 10-0 run over a 2:38 span that would give them a huge boost out the gate. They played with confidence and had the Camel's usually stout defense on its heels for most of the first half.

Campbell stayed in this game behind the exceptional play of Gemma Núñez. There are few players I have ever witnessed that can control the game on both ends of the floor like Núñez. She is unafraid to make any pass no matter the difficulty, and causes problems for opposing offenses with her on-ball defense and speed. She put up 2 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 steals in the first half. Drexel’s leading scorer on the year, Amaris Baker, would lead all scorers at the break with 10 points. The Dragons led 30-26 at the half.

To open the second half, the Camels would begin like they did to start the game: on a Gemma Núñez layup. Unfortunately for Campbell, from that moment on, it was all Drexel for quite some time. The Dragons would go a ferocious 15-3 run over a 6:20 stretch in the 3rd quarter, giving them their largest lead of the game at 16 points. A huge reason for that lead was an offensive explosion from Cara McCormack. She scored 8 of the Dragon's 15 points in this stretch and would finish the game with 23 points, tying her career high, on a blistering 7-9 from the field, 5-6 from deep, and 4-4 from the free throw line. I asked Coach Mallon about McCormack’s performance after the game:

“She [Cara McCormack] has been a great addition to our program. I say it's like a gift [that] some of the players have had these extra years [of eligibility]. She fits what we do and how we do it. She’s a winner…”

Campbell, per usual under Head Coach Ronny Fisher, put up a fight down the stretch to make this a game. Drexel called a timeout with 2:10 remaining in the game and Campbell was down 7. Coach Fisher said to his group: “We’re good." I asked him about that sequence:

“We were right there…I’m really proud. We were down 12, 14 points and we fought back…I did think we were good but they [Drexel] are not going to beat themselves…We’ve got to get tougher.”

Courtney Dahlquist and Gemma Núñez combined for 9 points in the 4th quarter, but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback. Drexel would go on to win 60-54. The Dragons had three players finish in double-figures; Cara McCormack led the way with 23 points, Deja Evans scored 15, and Amaris Baker put up 13. Drexel improved 10-3 in the conference, putting them just 1 game behind North Carolina A&T while Campbell fell to 8-5, tied for 4th with Monmouth.

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Friday's game was played for a much bigger cause than trying to win or lose. The most important battle on Friday night was for cancer patients, survivors, and their families. This was Campbell’s #Play4Kay game. The crowd showed out in pink to support not only the Fighting Camels, but also to put a stop to a terrible disease. Campbell Head Coach Ronny Fisher shared his thoughts on what it meant to #Play4Kay:

"I wanted to win this game, but there are families that are suffering. Everybody in this room knows someone that's been affected by it [cancer]. We were able today to raise money to go towards prolonging someone's life. To see that crowd come out and support our team and the survivors, and see that crowd give money to lengthen someone's life, that's more important than this game. I hate losing. but this was not a losing day for us."

If you are able to help, please consider donating to the Kay Yok Cancer Fund at https://kayyow.com/play4kay/?campaign=542555.

Campbell's next game is at home against Stony Brook on Sunday, February 23rd, at 2 p.m. Drexel is on the road to take on Elon on Sunday, February 23rd, at 1 p.m. Both games can be seen on FloCollege. Follow along on X (@TrevorEverette) for live game updates, and for more of my work on House of College Hoops and House Enterprise, head here.