CHICAGO, ILL. -- For the third time in the last
four games, the Drake women's basketball team dug itself in a hole with long
scoring drought which proved costly en route to dropping a 78-66 non-conference
setback to Chicago
State Monday night.
Drake went
7 minutes 52 seconds without scoring early in the first half watching a 4-2
lead evaporate into a 19-4 deficit as Chicago State reeled off 17
unanswered points.
"We
didn't come out of the gates well," said Drake coach Amy Stephens.
"Right from the get-go we turned the ball over. We fouled early
defensively and didn't rebound.
"We
gave them (Chicago
State) a lot of
confidence and then it just snow-balled from there. We gave ourselves too big a
deficit to climb out of."
Sophomore
Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa/Lincoln) ended the dry
spell with a basket with 10:09 left in the half which ignited an 8-0 run by
Drake to pull within 19-12.
The
Bulldogs, playing their final nonconference game, slipped to 6-5 entering their
Missouri Valley Conference opener Jan. 1 at Indiana State.
Drake went
9:52 without scoring a basket in a 65-52 setback at Iowa
State Dec. 11 and then suffered
through a 10:34 drought in the first half of a 71-53 home loss to Iowa Saturday.
Freshman
reserve guard Amber Wollschlager (Milbank, S.D./Milbank) led Drake with a
career-high 18 points, including 10 in the second half, along with four steals,
three assists and two blocked shots.
Wollschlager
scored Drake's last six points of the first half in the final seven seconds
including a half-court shot which beat the halftime horn.
"Hopefully
this is a break out game for Amber," said Stephens "She did things we
know she is capable of doing.”
Drake shot
43.3 percent from the floor, hitting 26 of 60 shots.
Chicago State was 52.1 percent from the field,
making 25 of 48 shots including a sizzling eight of 11 from beyond the
three-point arc.
Senior
guard Jasmin Dixon led Chicago
State with 20 points,
five rebounds and five assists.
Drake managed
to pull within 66-60 with 3:32 left following a basket by junior guard Jordann
Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) but sophomore forward Courtney Waldon
hit a three-point basket to push the lead back at 69-60 with 3:14 left and
Drake never threatened.
Turk and
Plummer had 12 points apiece for Drake.
Chicago State outrebounded Drake, 33-30. Each
team committed 19 turnovers.
