Drexel captures CAA women’s championship, clinches March Madness bid in win over top-seeded Stony Brook

It will be the Dragons’ first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2021 and marks just their third bid in school history.

Drexel celebrates the CAA championship and berth into the women's NCAA Tournament.Read moreGabriela Carroll

by Gabriela Carroll

Updated Mar. 17, 2024, 5:57 p.m. ET

Published Mar. 17, 2024, 5:21 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — Drexel led wire-to-wire in the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament championship game, finishing its improbable tournament run with a 68-60 win over top-seeded Stony Brook on Sunday at the Entertainment & Sports Arena, clinching a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in school history.

The Dragons learned Sunday night they are a No. 16 seed for the NCAA Tournament and will open play Friday against the region’s No. 1 seed, Texas, which will have a distinct home-court advantage in Austin.

Amaris Baker, voted the CAA tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, led Drexel (19-14, 10-8 CAA) with 19 points, and Villanova transfer Brooke Mullin scored 16, including four three-pointers. The team shot 57.9% from three-point range to put away the Seawolves (27-4, 16-2). Drexel led by as many as 14 points, and while a late scoring drought helped Stony Brook cut it to four with under a minute to play, the Dragons iced the game with free throws.

Drexel is the second No. 7 seed team to win the CAA Tournament (Monmouth did it last year).

Entering Sunday, Drexel had won seven of their last eight games. That one loss? A heartbreaking 60-58 defeat against Stony Brook after the Dragons were up by as many as 18.

Drexel could have fallen into the same trap in the CAA championship game. The Dragons were up by as many as 14 in the second half before Stony Brook cut the lead to four points with under a minute to go.

This time, Drexel locked in and won its first CAA title since 2021.

“We have this thing that we do as a team in the huddle,” Baker said. “We just say, ‘On five, let’s breathe. One, two, three, four, five, and breathe.’ Whatever we had to do to make sure that we kept the lead and won this game, we did that. Coming as a collective and just staying calm and cool was how we knew that we could do it.”

That first game against Stony Brook in the regular season was just the first step of the Dragons’ turnaround, as they ripped off three straight wins to end the season against Campbell, North Carolina A&T, and Elon.

“That [loss to Stony Brook] really hit us hard,” Drexel coach Amy Mallon said. “We were like, ‘We can beat them.’ We never thought we couldn’t, but we were in a position to do so. ... [The win at North Carolina A&T] was a turning point for us. I think you could see it just click, the way they showed up at practice, what they were doing.”

When the CAA tournament started, Drexel upset Monmouth and Towson in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, each by one possession, to make an improbable run to the final.

Baker was a huge part of that success. The Dragons shot 11-for-19 from three-point range against Stony Brook, and Baker shot 4-for-5 from distance herself.

“I always see [her] eyes locked in,” Mallon said of Baker. “I just have to give her so much credit, the amount of games she’s played, the amount of minutes she played, and how she performed. We talk about being an iron dragon. She’s certainly an iron dragon through and through. She shows up and works just like she does at practice every day, and you can see the result today.”

No one on the team has more March experience than Mullin, who transferred after a four-year career at Villanova that included a Sweet 16 berth in 2023. Coming to Drexel allowed Mullin to shine as one of the team’s top two scorers, and her 11 first-half points were indicative of that as they helped the Dragons jump out to an early lead.

But Mallon pointed to her impact in the final minutes of the game, as Stony Brook went on a 10-0 run to close the gap, as an example of what Mullin means to the team.

“She kept everybody calm on the floor, and she also was able to be very direct with them when they needed a little bit of a push,” Mallon said. “When Stony Brook went on the run, and you knew it was coming, I said to them, ‘We’ve got to anchor the storm. The storm’s coming, are you guys ready?’ … Brooke is really one of our anchors, I said that to her all year, you’re going to be our anchor. It wasn’t always scoring. It’s facilitating, it’s doing the little things. It’s taking care of the ball when we need to. Just really proud of her.”

Now, Drexel will take its Cinderella story to the NCAA Tournament, entering as one of the hottest teams in the field on a seven-game win streak. But for a team that’s made the tournament just twice in its history before this year, this turnaround has been gratifying.

“I’ve been a big journalist,” Baker said. “I would write down five things I’m grateful for, and then I would manifest something. March Madness has always been one of [the] things I wanted to do, and the fact that that has happened, it was so surreal. It just brought me to tears of joy and happiness. This year has been a roller coaster. We’re all different new pieces, and just coming together as a group, and we just needed that turning point. Once we clicked in at [North Carolina] A&T to now, it’s just awesome.”