MILWAUKEE, WIS. ? A balanced scoring attack and a stifling defensive effort ignited the Drake women's basketball team to a 63-53 victory over Milwaukee on Thursday (Dec. 13) at the Klotsche Center.

The triumph lifted the Bulldogs' ledger to 6-4 on the campaign, while dropping the Panthers to 3-5 overall. The win equaled Drake's road win total (two) for all of the 2006-07 campaign in true road contests.

Senior Lindsay Whorton (Independence, Mo./Truman) registered a game-high 18 points to guide the Blue and White. A team-high 16 points from Traci Edwards led Milwaukee.

The contest began as an up and down affair with neither side able to crack the scoring column until sophomore Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) intercepted a Panther pass and deposited an off-balance layup into the hoop and converted the free throw 3:18 (16:42) into the contest.

Edwards put Milwaukee on the scoreboard splitting a pair of free throws at the 14:40 mark. The Panthers didn't register their first field goal until Edwards hit a three-pointer with 13:20 left in the half.

Milwaukee began the affair shooting 2-for-13 from the field before hitting consecutive baskets to cut the deficit to 15-10.

From there the Bulldogs used a pair of free throws from senior Jill Martin (Norwalk, Iowa/Norwalk) and consecutive baskets from junior Lauren Dybing (Bloomington, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) to roll off six unanswered points to assume a 21-10 lead at the 7:51 mark.

Drake's offense then fell silent as the Bulldogs went 2:47 without a field goal until Whorton drilled a three-pointer as the shot clock expired with 4:48 left in the first half to give Drake a 24-12 advantage.

The Panthers scored 11 of the final 16 points to trail Drake at halftime, 29-23.

The Bulldogs finished the first 20 minutes shooting 44 percent from the field, while limiting Milwaukee to 29.6 percent.

The Panthers netted six of the first eight points in the second half to cut the deficit to 31-29. Compounding the problem was the Bulldogs' shooting as they made one of their first four shots before Whorton ended the string with her third triple of the evening to ignite a 7-0 Drake run.

After Milwaukee shrank the deficit to 45-38, the trio of Plummer, Whorton and Martin helped the Bulldogs go on another 7-0 run to give Drake a 14-point lead, 52-38.

The margin grew as large as 15 points before the Bulldogs exited the Klotsche Center with the road victory.

Martin had her streak of 23 straight free throws snapped late in the second half as she missed the front end of a two-shot foul.

Whorton connected on four three-point baskets. Joining her in double-figures was Plummer and Martin with 16 and 12 tallies, respectively. Plummer posted a game-best five assists.

The Bulldogs tickled the twines at 43.8 percent in the tilt, while holding the Panthers to 35.4 percent shooting. Drake registered a 36-28 advantage on the boards, including 29-22 on the defensive glass.

The Bulldogshave 17 days off before returning to the court versus UC Davis on Dec. 30. Game time in the Knapp Center is slated for 2:05 p.m.