EVANSVILLE, IND. -- Junior forward Monique' Jones (Lee's Summit, Mo.) scored seven points to key an 11-0 run early in the second half as the Drake women's basketball team escaped with a 62-61 Missouri Valley Conference victory past Evansville Thursday.

It marked the Bulldogs' first victory in Evansville since earning a 67-60 triumph in Roberts Stadium Dec. 30, 2001.

"To win a close game on the road, should be a huge boost to our team's confidence and growth," said Drake coach Amy Stephens who earned her first victory in Evansville in five trips.

Drake, winning a season-high third straight game, improved to 9-7 overall, including a 3-2 league mark, entering a Saturday game at Southern Illinois.

Evansville hit eight of its first 12 shots from floor en route to constructing a 27-14 lead with 9:27 left.

But the Bulldogs went on a 16-5 scoring binge to close out the first half trailing 32-30. Freshman guard Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn.) fueled the charge with seven points.

Junior guard Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo.) and senior forward Kelsey Keizer (Arnolds Park, Iowa) paced a balanced Drake attack with 12 points apiece.

Keizer also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, including eight offensive boards.

"What a great effort by our team to fight back with all the dirty work, like offensive rebounding by Kelsey (Keizer)," Stephens added. "We got enough to plug away and I was proud of our team's resiliency."

For the game Drake won on the boards with a 49-40 advantage, including a 21-17 advantage on the offensive glass.

"We talked at halftime about how good we have played in the second half this season. We attacked to start the second half...tje team felt we could win the game and it showed at beginning and end of the second half."

Sophomore guard Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa) started Drake's 11-0 run in the second half with a jumper to break a 35-35 tie. Then Jones had a conventional three-point play followed by a layup from freshman Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.)

Jones closed out the run with consecutive baskets.

A three-point basket by Turk gave drake its biggest lead of the game at 52-39 with 12:02 left.

Evansville had a chance to win the game when Jones missed the front end of a bonus free throw situation with 18.4 seconds left.

But the Purple Aces missed two shots and then Hackbarth stole an inbounds pass with 1.3 seconds left.

The Bulldogs dominated the inside, scoring 32 points in the paint and limiting Evansville to 18.

The Bulldogs edged the Purple Aces in shooting 38.7 percent to 34.9 percent.

The Purple Aces scored 20 points off 16 Drake turnovers while the Bulldogs capitalized on 16 Evansville turnovers, converting them into 19 points.