City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2022-23 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 9. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season click here)

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2022-23 Drexel Dragons
Coach: Amy Mallon, 3rd season (42-15, .737)
Last Year: 28-6 (16-2 CAA); lost in CAA Championship (Delaware, 63-59), lost in WNIT Third Round (Seton Hall, 78-71)

One of the most successful seasons in Drexel women’s basketball history saw the Dragons set a new standard in wins while also recording the fewest losses of any season in program history, only a loss in the CAA title game — on their home court, to make it worse — cementing it from being the most memorable year ever at 34th and Market. Now Mallon, who’s been part of the DU program for two decades, has to move forward without one of the most successful classes to come through the program, but some promising underclassmen have the future bright.

Key Departures: PF Tessa Brugler (13.9 ppg, 8.9 rpg), PG Hannah Nihill (13.9 ppg, 4.8 apg, 3.3 rpg), F Mariah Leonard (6.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg), SF Kate Connolly (3.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg)

There’s no doubt this is a significant graduating class for the Dragons, as the quartet above were the team’s second through fifth leading scorers, each started all 34 games (save for Connolly, who only started 31), and played a total of 60% of the team’s entire minutes from a year ago. It’s only due to the decision of a couple seniors to return for their fifth year — more on that below — that the Dragons aren’t in total rebuild mode in 2022-23.

Nihill was a five-year starter (thanks to COVID) with 153 games (145 starts) and nearly 5,000 minutes under her belt, not to mention multiple All-CAA honors; Leonard a three-year starter and the team’s dependable power forward. Brugler was only at Drexel for one season after four years at Bucknell, but she was a first-team All-City 6 pick by CoBL and second-team all-CAA, a smooth forward with a butter midrange jumper, and will now serve as the team’s Director of Basketball Operations.

New Faces: G Jennifer Martin (Fr. | Bradford Christian, Mass.), G Jalyn McNeill (Fr. | Our Lady of Good Counsel, Md.), F Kylie Lavelle (Fr. | Riverside, Pa.) PG Grace O’Neill (Fr. | Archbishop Carroll, Pa.)

What was supposed to be a five-woman class is down to four, as Lavelle’s high-scoring AAU teammate and fellow Northeast PA native Moriah ‘Mo’ Murray left the team shortly after the semester started, but it’s still an impressive group of four that should form a major part of the program over the next four seasons. All four bring something different to the table: O’Neill is the table-setter, a true point guard and all-state selection from Carroll, who led the Patriots to an undefeated regular season in the PCL her senior year; McNeill is a physical, athletic, downhill scoring guard; Martin is a shooting guard with length at 5-10, and Lavelle at 6-2 gives them size, athleticism and skill up front. All together, it’s a group without many holes, and their maturation curve will be perhaps the most important factor to Drexel’s success and trajectory this season and beyond.

Projected Starters: G Grace O’Neill, G Maura Hendrixson (3.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg), G Keishana Washington (19.2 ppg, 2.9 rpg), F Jasmine Valentine (2.1 ppg, 2.5 rpg), F/C Hetta Saatman (0.7 ppg, 1.0 rpg)

This team all starts with Washington, the team’s leading returning scorer from a year ago and one of the best scoring guards in the country. The 5-7 native of Pickering (Ont.) hit 59 3-pointers last year (32.4%), is terrific in the mid-range and made 86% of her foul shots; she’ll immediately be one of the favorites for CAA Player of the Year. Hendrixson, who also returns for her fifth season, took 96 of her 119 shots from 3-point range, making her return from an ACL injury at the end of the 2020-21 season. The ‘5’ spot is likely up for grabs between Saatman and the freshman Lavelle, and expect both to get their chance to show what they can do.

Key Reserves: F Brianne Borcky (0.9 ppg), F Kylie Lavelle, G Tori Hyduke (2.6 ppg)

It’s going to be interesting to see just how deep Mallon goes into her bench, as her rotation only went 7-8 deep last year, and with half of the rotation gone, she’s going to have to rely on some thus-far-unproven players to fill in some of those gaps. Hyduke (24 games) and Borcky (17) weren’t even used in every game a year ago; three other players not mentioned here (Erin Sweeney, Momo LaClair and Sira Ba) all played fewer than 10 games. It might be the freshmen, it might be some of the veterans, but at least a couple Dragons are going to have to give them some bench production as they can’t be too top-heavy and survive a 30-plus-game season.

By the Numbers

(338): The total number of Division I starts between the four women who graduated from last year’s squad, including a couple of years where Brugler was starting at Bucknell. That’s a ton of Division I experience gone from the roster (though Brugler’s now the program’s director of operations), and while a few veterans remain, there’s no way to immediately replicate that loss of Division I court time. It helps that they’ll play three of their first four at home, with the only “road” game at La Salle, but five straight on the road from Nov. 27 - Dec. 13 will be an early test for the Dragons.

(11.1): Drexel’s turnovers per game last season, a number that was 3rd-best in the country according to HerHoopStats. Of course that starts with Nihill, but it was a whole team effort to limit mistakes, which helped the Dragons stay efficient on the offensive end, even as they were only an average shooting and rebounding team. It’s something Drexel’s been good at for seven straight years, as they’ve been in the top 50 in the country in turnover percentage each of those seasons, and have only been outside the top 60 once in the last 11 years.

(27.6%): Drexel’s defensive 3-point percentage. The Dragons were a lockdown team defensively on the perimeter last year, 27th in the country in 3-point percentage defense and 53rd in overall field goal defense (37.3%), and were in the top 100 in a number of other advanced defensive stats, according to HHS. That’s also something they’ve been good at in recent history, including in 2018-19, when they were No. 1 in the country (24.5%). 

Keep an eye on…
Scoring help for Washington: It’s no secret that Keishana Washington is a bucket. No matter what opposing defenses can throw at her, she’s going to be able to get her production on a regular basis, as she’s capable of creating her own shot in a multitude of ways. But it’s also no secret that she can’t carry the Drexel offense alone. The Dragons are going to need to figure out who’s their second and third scoring options, and they’re going to need those options to develop quickly. Washington can’t be the one creating all the opportunities for the whole offense; someone like Valentine, Hendrixson, O’Neill, etc. is going to have to also be able to make things happen.

Who takes over at point guard: For the last five years, the ball has been in Hannah Nihill’s hands. Those 145 starts are likely going to be never matched in Drexel history and are a CAA record, helped out by the COVID season, but it’s still a remarkable steadiness at point. Now the Dragons are going to have someone else running the offense, and there are several promising underclassmen who could end up in the role. The most likely candidate seems to be O’Neill, but LaClair looked good in practices before her injury, and Hyduke does have 400 minutes of college experience under her belt.