SENIGALLIA, ITALY – The Drake University women's basketball team defeated the Adriatic Sea Sirens, 85-66, Saturday evening in the second game of its 2016 summer trip through Italy.
 
Drake rallied from a 42-41 halftime deficit to defeat the Sea Sirens and improved to 1-1 on the trip.
 
Senior Lizzy Wendell scored a team-high 22 points while freshmen Brenni Rose and Becca Hittner had 10 and nine points, respectively. Sophomore Nicole Miller also finished with nine points. Senior Caitlin Ingle tallied six points and six assists.
 
The Bulldogs play their final game of the trip Monday evening in Costa Masnaga, where it will play the Italian Select team. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. CST).
 
Earlier in the day, the group had a chance to tour the city square of the Republica of San Marino. We arrived in San Marino Friday evening after a long travel day from Florence. Words can't describe the beautiful views we had from the square overlooking San Marino and back into Italy. We once again had an excellent guided tour, this time through the square, where our guide covered the history of San Marino. San Marino, a microstate, is surrounded by Italy, is one of the world's oldest republics and is mountainous.
 
Following the tour of San Marino, the group headed to Senigallia, which is a coastal town on the Adriatic Sea. It is home to a beautiful beach that the group enjoyed for several hours in the afternoon.
 
After the beach, the team continued the educational aspect of the trip with a class during their pregame dinner. Led by Dr. Jeffrey A. Kappen, assistant professor of international business the team had a discussion on communication and leadership. Dr. Kappen then turned the discussion over to program supporter and former chairman of The Principal Financial Group, Larry Zimpleman, who is on the trip. Zimpleman, who earned a bachelor's degree and masters from Drake, shared his thoughts on effective communication and leadership. The team then had an opportunity to ask Zimpleman questions, which were excellent and the class lasted one hour.
 
Tomorrow morning, we depart San Marino and travel to Venice for a few hours before heading to Lake Como. The group will spend the remainder of the trip in Lake Como and fly out of Milan Wednesday morning.
 
Be sure to continue to follow the trip via Instagram and Twitter, @DrakeWBB along with trip central page at www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com and the student-athletes' Tumblr blog.
 
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