IOWA CITY, IOWA - At six-foot six-inches, Iowa's Megan Skouby is a force for any team to deal with and Drake found out first hand that stopping her is no easy task as Skouby scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Hawkeyes to a 62-50 triumph Tuesday evening (Nov. 13).

The Bulldogs struggled from the floor offensively, connecting on just 26.2 percent of their shots, hitting 16 of 61 shots.

Drake hit only 17.6 percent from beyond the three-point arc making three of 17 shots. The Bulldogs missed all nine three-point field goal attempts in the first half.

“I felt our kids came out fearless, executing a good game plan especially on defense," said Drake head coach Amy Stephens. "Holding Iowa to 62 points on their home court is going to give yourself a chance to win.

"But we're going to struggle all season if we shoot that bad. We were getting easy shots but we just couldn't knock them down."

Drake starters Jill Martin (Norwalk, Iowa/Norwalk), Lindsay Whorton (Independence, Mo./Truman) and Lauren Dybing (Bloomington, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) made a combined eight of 38 shots from the floor.

Martin led Drake with 11 points and seven rebounds. Whorton and Dybing added 10 points apiece for Drake which slipped to 0-2.

Drake played without the services of senior forward Brandy Dahir, a preseason first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference performer who injured her left foot during practice Monday.

Drake did hold its own against the taller Hawkeyes in rebounding. Iowa only outrebounded Drake by a 42-40 margin. Whorton collected six rebounds.

The Bulldogs also forced Iowa into 18 turnovers, including 11 in the first half. Drake scored 18 points off those Iowa miscues.

"We did a lot of good things, defending and rebounding, but we could never get over the hump," Stephens added.


The Hawkeyes were successful on four of their first five shots, jumping out to a 9-2 lead before Stephens called a time out to regroup Drake. The Bulldogs came out of the timeout and scored five of the next seven points to cut the deficit to 11-7.

Despite the size advantage the Bulldogs held their own on the boards outrebounding the Hawkeyes on the offensive glass, 7-6, but bettered on the defensive end, 18-12.

Unable to find much scoring inside the arc in their season opener versus Green Bay on Friday (Nov. 9), the Bulldogs outscored Iowa in the paint, 10-8, in the initial 20 minutes.

Drake assumed its first lead of the game at 17-16 on a left-handed layup by sophomore Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) with 8:27 left in the first half to key a 6-0 run.

The lead was brief as Wendy Ausdemore put the Hawkeyes back on top with a basket to start an 8-0 run over the next nearly three minutes (2:45) to put Iowa in the lead, 24-17, with 5:26 left in the first period.

Junior Ashleigh Brady (Lubbock, Texas/Frenship) trimmed the deficit to 24-21, converting a basket and free throw at the 2:46 mark.

From that point forward, Skouby added four of her 10 first-half points to send the Hawkeyes into the intermission holding a 28-21 lead.

After not scoring in the first half for the second consecutive contest, Whorton netted Drake's first seven points of the final 20 minutes, including hitting her 200th career three-pointer at the 16:14 mark. The triple snapped a 0-for-10 start from beyond the arc by the Bulldogs and cut the margin to 36-28.

Unfortunately for Drake, it had no answer for Skouby, who nearly single-handedly catapulted Iowa to a 41-29 lead.

Martin brought the Bulldogs to within 43-34, before Ausdemore connected on a three-pointer from the corner to give the Hawkeyes their largest margin of the night to that point, 46-34.

A pair of free throws by Martin brought the Blue and White to within 48-40.

Plummer had three assists and three steals.

The Bulldogs return home for the first of two games on Friday (Nov. 16) hosting first-time opponent Sacramento State (0-1) beginning at 7:05 p.m. Drake plays host to Weber State at 2:05 p.m. Sunday.

"I'm very confident that we will come back this weekend," Stephens added. "We have to learn, grow and continue to look for the right combinations."