PHILADELPHIA -- The University of Delaware women's’ basketball found the going a little easier this time around against long-time rival Drexel.

The Blue Hens, who downed the Dragons at the buzzer in the first meeting between the two teams back on Jan. 20 in Newark, set a school record for highest field goal percentage in a game Friday night and got big efforts from Tyresa Smith (at right), Meliss Czorniewy, and Courtney Irving to easily dispatch Drexel for a 75-61 Colonial Athletic Association win at the Daskalakis Center.

Delaware (19-6, 11-5 CAA), which snapped a two-game conference road losing streak, connected on 25 of 42 shots from the field for a school-record mark of 59.5 percent and outrebounded Drexel 36-26 to down the Dragons for the 16th straight time in the series. The 59.5 percent shooting clip broke the previous UD record of 57.7 percent (30 of 52) established against Lafayette back on Jan. 17, 1990.

Smith, who scored the game-winner at the buzzer in the first meeting with Drexel, led the way again this time with 19 points and six rebounds while Czorniewy added 16 points and Irving continued her late-season surge by dropping in a career-high tying 16 points, including 8 for 8 shooting from the foul line, and grabbing eight rebounds. Alena Koshansky dished out a game-high six assists to go with seven points and four rebounds.

Drexel (12-13, 7-9 CAA) had a two-game winning streak snapped despite a spirited effort from guard Narissa Suber, who connected on 8 of her team’s 10 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 27 points. Catherine Scanlon added 12 points and 10 rebounds but shot just 4 of 15 from the field.

“We played great tonight,” said Delaware head coach Tina Martin, whose team clinched its seventh straight season with 19 or more wins. “Our first half was the best we played all year. Drexel shoots the ball extremely well so we really challenged our team and they came up with a great defensive effort. We need to stay in the top four in the conference standings so this victory was huge for us.”

The Blue Hens couldn’t be stopped in the first half as they connected on 15 of 24 shots from the field (62.5 percent), including 5 of 7 three-pointers, to take a comfortable 41-26 lead at the break.

After an early 2-2 tie, the Hens took control with an 11-0 run, led by two baskets each by Smith and Irving, to go up 13-2 and never looked back. Delaware increased the lead to as much as 20 points at 41-21 before Drexel scored the final five points of the stanza. The Dragons were just the opposite of the Hens in the shooting department, hitting just 9 of 26 first-half shots to fall behind by 15 points at the break.

Delaware never let up in the second half, staying up by at least 15 points until the final minute of play. The Blue Hens, who also hit 10 of 18 (55.6 percent) second half shots, used a 16-6 run to open the second stanza to go up by 25 points at 57-32 with 11:23 remaining on a layup by Koshansky. Irving, who has now scored in double figures in three straight games and five of her last eight, scored six of her points during that run.

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