Delaware holds off Drexel for CAA title

Jasmine Dickey scored 27 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, Jewell Smalls made the clinching free throw with 2.5 seconds left and Delaware captured the Colonial Athletic Association championship and its fourth NCAA Tournament berth with a 63-59 win over Drexel on Sunday.

The second-seeded Fightin’ Blue Hens led by 16 points with 6 ½ minutes to play and 11 with 2 ½ to go before hanging on in the frantic finish as the top-seeded defending champion Dragons reeled off eight straight points.

The final minute included a missed layup by Drexel followed immediately by two missed Delaware free throws before Tessa Brugler made two free throws after grabbing an offensive rebound with 37.7 seconds left that made it 62-59.

The Dragons chose not to foul and Dickey lost the ball with six seconds to go. Tyi Skinner made a smart foul with 4.6 seconds left but Keishana Washington missed both free throws. After a timeout, Smalls was fouled and made the first free throw to clinch Delaware’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2013.

Skinner, who made two free throws with 0.4 seconds left for a one-point win in the quarterfinals, finished with 10 points for the Blue Hens (23-7). Ty Battle had eight points and 12 rebounds, with the 47-24 advantage on the boards playing a big role in building the Delaware lead.

Dickey, the third-leading scorer in the nation at 25 points, was the CAA regular-season and tournament MVP.

Washington had 22 points to lead the Dragons (26-5), who beat Delaware 63-52 in the title game last year and twice in the regular season. Brugler had 17 points and eight rebounds and Hannah Nihill had 13 points.

Delaware was 4 of 12 from the field and 1 of 5 from the foul line with eight turnovers in the fourth quarter. Still, the Blue Hens were 8 of 17 from distance and shot 40% overall, but had 20 turnovers.

Drexel made all 15 free throws before the late misses but was just 4 of 23 from 3-point range and shot 32% overall.

Delaware won back-toback tournament titles behind Elena Delle Donne in 2012 and 2013, beating Drexel both times. The first appearance was in 2001 as members of the America East Conference.and https://twitter. com/APTop25