City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) +
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For two years, Laine McGurk has been putting in the work behind the scenes in Drexel’s practices and workouts, waiting for her time to shine. There were flashes, for sure, but the West Chester Rustin product had largely been playing a supporting role for the annual Coastal Athletic Association contenders. 

Until this year, when all that work seems to be paying off at once. 

Three games into the Dragons’ campaign, McGurk is their leading scorer and a major reason they’re off to a 3-0 start, playing the best hoops of her career to start her junior season. She was strong again on Wednesday, contributing 12 points and four rebounds as Drexel won its Big 5 opener, 72-55 over Penn.

Through three games, she’s averaging 20 points per contest, making 52.2% of her shots (24-of-46) and going 8-of-13 (61.5%) from 3-point range while hitting all four of her free throws.

“I think a lot of it is just understanding,” she told CoBL. “I think I’ve had a better understanding of what we do at Drexel. The last two years were just about growth and learning, and just understanding that I was making progress throughout those years, it probably didn’t seem like it on the court. 

“I’m just happy that now it’s all clicking and I’m playing a bigger role on the team and honestly, just stepping up in ways that the coaches wanted me to that I saw myself being able to do.”

In her first two years at Drexel, McGurk played in 59 games off the bench, averaging 5.3 ppg and 1.9 rpg. She had her moments, like a 20-point outing against La Salle in her second career game and 21 against Monmouth in February of her freshman year, a high-mark that lasted all throughout her sophomore season. But she struggled with her efficiency, shooting 35.5% overall and 25.2% from beyond the arc in those two years, which limited Mallon’s ability to play her for longer stretches. 

McGurk blasted through that number by scoring 33 in Drexel’s season opener, going 13-of-19 from the floor and 5-of-7 from deep as the Dragons beat Pittsburgh on the road. She followed that up with 15 points and six rebounds against Marist in a less efficient but still strong showing, then made it three straight in double figures against Penn.

“I think junior year you really see things slow down a little bit,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said, “and you’re seeing things that we knew through the process of recruiting her that she’s capable of doing and we’re continuing to see every day. It’s something she does every day at practice, so now seeing her doing it in the games, for me, I’m just proud as a coach to see that piece come together.”

Senior guard Amaris Baker, who averaged 15 points in the Dragons’ first two wins of the season, led Drexel (3-0, 1-0 Big 5) with 18 as the O’Hara grad and First Team All-CAA selection a year ago was 7-of-15 from the floor and 3-of-6 from deep. Senior forward Molly Lavin in her second year at Drexel after playing two seasons at American, had her first double-double in a Drexel uniform with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Grace O’Neill contributed in a strong all-around game with eight points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals, while the bench chipped in 16 points.

Wednesday’s final score wasn’t indicative of Drexel’s domination for the majority of the evening; Penn won the fourth quarter against the DU backups after trailing by as many as 35 midway through the third. 

Coming off season-opening wins over an ACC foe and one of the MAAC’s top programs, Drexel’s momentum carried right into its home opener. The Dragons absolutely dominated the first half against their neighborhood rival, going on a monster run that lasted the last four minutes of the first quarter and the entirety of the second to open up a 30-point halftime lead.

“It’s great, this team works so hard, we were due for a hot start, just with all the returning pieces we have back,” McGurk said. “It’s an exciting squad, we’ve had a good schedule to open it up [...] we’re a very defensive-oriented team, so when we get in a rhythm defensively, it spurts the offense for us.”

As a team, Drexel shot 27-of-62 (43.5%) overall and 9-of-18 (50.0%) from the 3-point arc. Penn struggled to the tune of 17-of-59 (28.8%) from the floor and 6-of-28 (21.4%) from the 3-point arc, with four of those long-range makes coming in the fourth quarter. 

Though they’re located just a few blocks apart, Penn and Drexel’s women hadn’t met since December 20, 2019, when Penn won 53-49. The Dragons hadn’t won a game against the Quakers since five years prior on the same day, in a 67-58 matchup at the DAC. 

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Dominant Drexel run sets the tone

For about 16 minutes of game time, there wasn’t much Drexel could do wrong. 

From the four-minute mark of the first quarter until just into the second half, the Dragons absolutely dominated. 

After the teams traded early buckets, with Drexel leading 10-9 just past the midway point of the opening period, the Dragons caught fire. A 34-5 run spanned the next 16 minutes of play, taking Drexel all the way from late in the first quarter through the opening bucket of the third. The second quarter, which Drexel won 17-1, was as lockdown a 10 minutes of hoops as the Dragons can play.

“One of the strengths of our program has always been our scoring defense, limiting teams to the things they want to do,” Mallon said. “I credit my staff, [associate head coach] Stacy [Weiss] was the scout for this game and prepared us the way we need to be prepared [...] to limit a team to one point in a quarter, that takes a total team effort and I thought that’s something we were able to do and it’s something we were focusing on.”

Penn shot 2-of-17 during the stretch, turning it over 10 times. The Dragons’ zone was swarming, preventing the Quakers from getting clean looks, while also limiting second-chance opportunities and coming up with six of their 11 steals on the night during the run.

“It was just a massive run, we couldn’t stop it, couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Penn coach Mike McLaughlin said. “I don’t have a whole lot of good to say about what our offense did the first 20 minutes.”

“We drew a couple things up, obviously I didn’t do a great job because none of that really got us out of the flow,” he added. “It was rough, it was probably one of the most difficult quarters I’ve been a part of.”

Drexel, meanwhile, couldn’t miss. Baker, O’Neil, McGurk, and Lavin all connected from deep in the second quarter, which Drexel took 17-1 after ending the first on a 17-4 spurt. 

The Dragons connected on 11 of 14 shots at one point between the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter, taking a 30-point edge into the break. It wasn’t until after Deja Evans scored to open the third for Drexel that Penn finally scored on back-to-back possessions, breaking the streak. 

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Penn still figuring itself out offensively

Three games into the season, the Quakers aren’t quite right offensively. 

Their two prior wins came over a Division III program and a low-major in Delaware State, but after Wednesday’s drubbing, it became clear that Penn’s currently dealing with some issues at getting the ball through the bucket following the graduation of last year’s leading scorer, wing/forward Stina Almqvist (17.7 ppg).

Junior point guard Mataya Gayle, who averaged 12.3 ppg last year, is averaging 7.3 ppg through three games this season after a season-high 13 points against Penn. Katie Collins, the Ivy League Rookie of the Year, is averaging 10.3 ppg but struggled against Drexel to the tune of five points on 1-9 shooting. As a team, the Quakers are making just 28.8% of their 3-pointers.

McLaughlin identified two major areas of concern: out on the wings, and his situation up front. 

The first involves getting Gayle some perimeter scoring help. Senior wing Saniah Caldwell, after scoring nine points in each of the Quakers’ last two games, is fourth on the team in scoring at 6.0 ppg. Senior Simone Sawyer (5.3 ppg), freshman Ruke Ogbevire (5.0 ppg), her sister senior Ese Ogbevire (4.7 ppg) and sophomore Sarah Miller (4.3 ppg), among others, all have the potential to become a consistent scorer from the ‘2’ and ‘3’ spot. 

Thus far, nobody’s stepped up with consistency.

“I think Mataya’s trying to do the right thing, her decision-making at times is just not always where we need it to be right now,” McLaughlin said.  “We need one of these wing players to alleviate some of the pressure from her to be able to get into a spot on the floor… we’re still trying to figure out who that is.”

Up front, the issue is trying to figure out the best way to pair Collins alongside junior center Tina Njike after previously playing alongside Almqvist. A 6-2 post and true ‘5,’ Nike is off to a good start to the season, averaging 12.0 ppg and 9.7 rpg, but she can’t flex into the offense the same way Almqvist could, forcing Collins into some new spots. 

“One of the challenges we have is that Tina takes up space on the floor that Katie needs, and [...] Katie’s still trying to figure out what that looks like. We need to do a better job of working those two together.”

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Up Next

Drexel (3-0, 1-0 Big 5) hosts Loyola (Md.) on Sun, Nov. 16 at 2 PM

Penn (2-1, 0-1 Big 5) plays at Hofstra on Sat., Nov. 15 at 1 PM