DES MOINES, IOWA ? Led by 18 points from senior Lindsay Whorton (Independence, Mo./Truman) and the 41st career double-double by senior Jill Martin (Norwalk, Iowa/Norwalk), Drake erased a nine-point second-half deficit en route to a 65-56 victory over Green Bay in the first round of the Women's National Invitation Tournament on Saturday (March 22).
The win advances the Bulldogs (23-10) to the second round of the tournament and a date at Illinois (19-14) on Monday (March 24) at 7:00 p.m. in Champaign, Ill. The Phoenix dropped back-to-back games for the first time since the conclusion of the 2005-06 campaign and ended its season at 26-6.
“I'm really proud of my team the way they defended the three and controlled the boards,” Drake head coach Amy Stephens said. “We beat a very good Green Bay team this afternoon. Lindsay (Whorton) and Jill (Martin) were phenomenal in leading the team and scoring the ball.”
In a game that featured big scoring streaks by both teams, it was the Bulldogs that survived a nine-minute six-second stretch midway through the affair in which they missed 15 of 16 attempt to prevail with the final run of the game. After the Phoenix took a 45-36 lead with 12:44 to go in the game, Drake rattled off 24 of the game's next 30 points to own a 60-51 lead with under two minutes to play.
Fueling the surge with six points apiece was Whorton and junior Kelsey Keizer (Arnolds Park, Iowa/Okoboji).
Whorton capped a 9-0 run in that span that gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the second half connecting on a three-pointer from the far left corner with 7:21 remaining. Green Bay regained the lead on a jumper by Lavesa Glover but it proved to be short-lived as Keizer put Drake ahead for good on a lay-up at the 6:07 mark.
Sophomore Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) gave Drake its biggest margin in the contest, 60-51, hitting a pair of free throws with 1:59 left.
Glover broke the Bulldogs' run with a jumper and Celeste Hoewisch converted a lay-up to cut the deficit to five points, 60-55.
Drake sealed its first postseason victory since downing Baylor, 76-72, on March 17, 2002 in the NCAA Tournament, with a pair of made free throws from Whorton, Plummer and one off the hands of sophomore Monique' Jones (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit North).
Whorton paced the Bulldogs with an 18-point effort, with all of her points coming off of three-pointers, as she shot 45.5 percent (5-of-11) beyond the arc.
Martin finished the affair with 15 points, while snatching a game- and career-high 16 rebounds to post her 41st career double-double, including her league-leading 15th of the season. With her first rebound of the second half, Martin became only the fifth player in Drake history to record at least 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds joining Lorri Bauman (3,115 points/1,050 rebounds), Wanda Ford (2,636 points/1,815 rebounds), Jan Krieger (1,846 points/1,214 rebounds) and Sharon Upshaw (2,513 points/1,675 rebounds).
Coming off the bench to spark the Bulldog comeback with a season highs in points (12) and rebounds (8) was Keizer. Plummer added eight points, four assists and three steals, while junior Ashleigh Brady (Lubbock, Texas/Frenship) distributed a career- and game-best five assists against no turnovers.
Glover headlined all scorers with 23 points for the Phoenix.
“I thought our defense was good and a critical point in second half when we got down nine we remained composed and challenged our players to get stops and we made a nice run and I'm really proud of players,” Stephens commented. “Lindsay shot the ball really well today and is a phenomenal leader and fierce competitor and we seem to feed off her ability to make threes all the time as she is fearless so she is going to keep shooting.”
Green Bay took an early lead in the first half, leading by as much as six and owning a 17-12 lead with 8:31 to go. That's when Drake went on a 14-0 run, fueled by a trio of three pointers, one of which was part of a four-point play by Whorton.
After a basket by junior Lauren Dybing (Bloomington, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) powered Drake to a 28-21 lead with 3:45 left in the first half, the Phoenix reeled off eight straight points capped by a Kati Harty lay-up to grab a 29-28 halftime lead.
Green Bay's run continued into the second half, as Glover scored 12 of team's first 14 points of the stanza as the team shot 8-of-11 out of the locker room. But as hot as the team was to start, the Drake defense ratcheted up and limited the Phoenix to just 11 points over the final 12:44 of the game.
Green Bay finished the contest shooting 42.6 percent to Drake's 34.4 percent, but the Bulldogs were 7-of-21 from long range. After connecting on 10 three-pointers in the team's earlier meeting (Nov. 9), the Phoenix hit just one of seven three-point attempts.
The Bulldogs dominated the boards, outrebounding the Phoenix, 49-30, including 19-5 on the offensive glass.
