Peanut Butter, Jelly, Baker, McGurk: Drexel’s Perfect Pair
Ben Kane
Peanut butter and jelly.
Salt and pepper.
Baker and McGurk.
Everyone knows the ability Drexel’s Amaris Baker brings to the table. The graduate guard is a returning all-conference standout. Throw in
a career start to the season
from Laine McGurk, and
the Dragons’ backcourt is very quickly becoming one of the most prolific duos in the CAA.
It all started on November 4, the Dragons’ season opener against Pitt.
One minute and 12 seconds into the campaign, McGurk tallied her first bucket
, but the scoring didn’t stop. The junior guard went on to drop a career-high 33 points, earning her CAA and Big 5 Player of the Week honors.
“Pitt was just the start,” Drexel Head Coach Amy Mallon said .”Laine will continue to be consistent with what she can do each game.”
While McGurk has continued to flourish, Baker has found her footing.
“The best part of these two being in their third year together is that they have a level of comfort and experience that they use together to carry through each game and make each other better each day,” Mallon said.
After just three points in the season opener, last season’s All-CAA First Team selection, Baker, has averaged 23.3 points in her last seven contests. This, alongside McGurk’s 14.9 points per game, ranks the two as the top-scoring duo in the conference, combining for 35.7 of Drexel’s 63.8 points this season.
McGurk is putting up career numbers, playing almost twice the number of minutes from a season prior. With her point tally, the guard sits third in the CAA, shooting a personal-best 42.4% from deep and 45.5% from the field.
“Her consistency in what she is showing each game now is due to the work and time she has put in over the last two years, striving to be at her best every time she steps on the floor,” Mallon said.
Baker has continued to put her name in the conversation for CAA Player of the Year. The grad student is one of just two players in the CAA to have a 30-point performance, including a conference-best 35 against NJIT.
Averaging 20.9 points during Drexel’s 5-3 start to the year, she is kicking above her career-best of 17.0ppg
last season. All this while leading the conference and sitting amongst the nation's best in minutes per game (35.0).
The last time a pairing was this prolific for Drexel?
“Hannah Nihill and Keishana Washington,” Mallon said.
“They were certainly two of the CAA’s all-time great backcourt duos. They won one CAA title and four Regular Season Titles…champions on and off the court.”
In 2021, Drexel made its third NCAA Tournament appearance.
Similar to the 2025 duo, Nihill (16.3) and Washington (14.6) combined for 30.9 points, about half of Drexel’s scoring output that season.
Claiming a CAA Title in 2024, the pairing knows what it takes to succeed but also how it feels to fall short. If history repeats itself like 2021, then the Philadelphia-based program is poised to make another run for hardware in the CAA off the back of its two dynamic scorers.
“The motivation to be at our best every day and judge ourselves on how we finished will be what sets the tone for us in CAA play.”
“Consistently great is our goal and not remarkable once. That is our goal every day.”