DES MOINES, IOWA ? In a tale of two halves, it was the Drake women's basketball team's effort and focus in the final 20 minutes that sparked the Bulldogs to an 80-68 victory over Montana State on Sunday (Dec. 2).

Drake moved above .500 for first time this season at 4-3 following the win, while dropping the Bobcats to 2-4.

The game marked a celebration of the first-ever game played in the Knapp Center, which occurred on Dec. 1, 1992 versus the same Montana State team.

“We cranked up our defense in the second half and got our transition game going, which really seemed to spark our team,” Bulldog head coach Amy Stephens said. “I'm very pleased with how we're rebounding and pushing the ball and offensively we're done a lot of good things and now we need to improve on the defensive end.”

Drake overcame an at times listless first half where Montana State dictated tempo, while forcing nine Bulldog turnovers. The Blue and White trailed by as many as six points (19-13) in the stanza before an 8-0 run capped by a basket from senior Lindsay Whorton (Independence, Mo./Truman) gave Drake its first lead of the afternoon, 21-19.

The Bobcats quickly regained the advantage before the Bulldogs closed the half on a 6-0 run, including consecutive layups from junior Lauren Dybing (Bloomington, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) to assume a 32-28 halftime lead.

The catalyst for the Bulldogs in the first 20 minutes was freshman Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa/Lincoln), who came off the bench to contribute seven points on 3-of-3 shooting, including a three-pointer.

Montana State connected on 50 percent of its shots in the initial frame, while Drake hit at a .429 clip.

Whatever Stephens said to her Bulldogs at halftime worked as Drake came out a different team to begin the final 20 minutes.

After the Bobcats tied the score at 34, the Blue and White rolled off seven unanswered points, fueled by five points from sophomore Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) to grab their largest lead up to that point in the affair, 41-34.

Refusing to pack it in, Montana State rallied to cut the deficit to one, 48-47, before Dybing contributed six points in a 15-2 Drake run to give the home team a 63-49 lead with 7:40 remaining.

The Bulldogs salted away the victory at the free throw line, going 11-for-13 to conclude the game, including the final 11 points in the affair.

Senior Jill Martin (Norwalk, Iowa/Norwalk) tallied 16 of her game-high 18 points in the second half to lead Drake. Whorton and Dybing chipped in 17 apiece, while Plummer added 15 points off the bench.

A pair of 16-point efforts from Rebecca Mercer and Krislyn Wallace directed Montana State.

The Bulldogs created their offense in the contest on the strength of their rebounding as Drake outrebounded the Bobcats, 34-25, including 16-8 on the offensive glass.

After turning the ball over nine times in the first half, the Blue and White committed only five miscues in the final period. Montana State finished with 21 turnovers, which Drake converted into 29 points.

The Bulldogs concluded the afternoon shooting 47.4 percent from the floor, while on the strength of a 58.6 shooting mark in the final 20 minutes, Montana State tickled the twines at a 54.7 clip.

Drake benefited from attacking the basket in the second half as the Bulldogs went to the line 30 times in the affair, including 19 in the final stanza alone.

Up next for the Blue and White is a Wednesday (Dec. 5) game at Western Illinois. Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.