DEC. 11, 2008

AMES, IOWA -- A near 10-minute scoring drought proved costly to the Drake women's basketball team which saw a 10-point lead evaporate en route to a 65-52 setback at Iowa State Thursday night.

The Bulldogs, who had a four-game winning streak snapped, fell to 5-3 entering a Sunday home game with Western Michigan.

Sophomore guard Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa/Lincoln) led Drake with 18 points, including 11 in the first half.

Senior forward Lauren Dybing (Bloomington, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran)), who scored just one point in 23 minutes against Iowa State last year, had a season-high 16 points.

Dybing added eight rebounds and a career-high four steals.

Clinging to a 20-19 lead, Drake scored nine unanswered points to enjoy its biggest lead of the game at 29-19 with 3:54 left following a jumper by Dybing who scored six points during the surge.

But the Bulldogs would fail to score the remainder of the half as well as the opening 5:59 of the second half.

Drake missed 10 shots and committed five turnovers during the dry spell of 9 minutes 52 seconds.

Iowa State took advantage, going on a 17-0 run to enjoy a 36-29 lead before Turk broke the drought with a jumper from the right wing with 14:01 left.

Drake held Iowa State to 33.3 percent (10-30) shooting in the first half, while forcing the Cyclones into 10 turnovers

"It was definitely a tale of two halves," said Drake head coach Amy Stephens. "We were the aggressor in the first half and they (Iowa State) were in the second half.  We were a completely different team in the second half.

"We didn't shoot well. They did a nice job in the second half attacking our inside game."

The Cyclones, who improved to 6-2, shot a blistering 61.9 percent from the floor in the second half, making 13 of 21 shots.

"The last 25 minutes were about as good as we could play," said Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly whose team improved to 6-2.

Drake forced Iowa State into 17 turnovers, scoring 13 points off Cyclone miscues.

But Iowa State dominated the backboards owning a 37-22 rebounding advantage, while scoring 18 second-chance points.

Drake hit just 34.6 percent (9-28) in the second period.

During a 15-minute stretch including the last four minutes of the first half, Drake made just one basket.

Junior guard Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) collected 12 points and four rebounds for the Bulldogs.