Women's Basketball 1/24/2009 12:00:00 AM Drake Athletics

Guards Key Drake Women's Basketball Team To 5th Straight Win

DES MOINES, IOWA -- Guards Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) and Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) combined for 35 points, while the Drake women's basketball team also relied on a stifling defense, to post its fifth straight Missouri Valley Conference victory with a 71-51 decision past Bradley Friday night.

The victory propelled the Bulldogs into a third-place tie in the MVC standings with Creighton at 5-2, just one-half game behind league leaders Illinois State and Indiana State who are 5-1.

"You are really starting to see the growth and maturity of our team develop," said Drake head coach Amy Stephens, whose team improved to 11-7 overall entering a Sunday home game with Northern Iowa.

Plummer tied a career high with 20 points, including 15 in the second half, while collecting seven rebounds and four steals. She scored 13 points in the final 8:27 when the game was still close at 45-39. She connected on 3-of-3 shots from the floor and 6-of-6 from the line in that time span.

McSparron added 15 points, including eight in the second half, along with four assists and two steals. She also stifled Bradley's Michelle Lund, who ranked second nationally coming to the game with 3.1 three-point field goals a game, to just three shot attempts (two from three-point range).

The Bulldogs collected a season high 13 steals, while forcing Bradley into 27 turnovers. Drake converted those miscues into 27 points.

Drake held Bradley to 33.6 percent shooting in the second half after the Braves had torched the nets for 53.5 percent (14-26) in the first half.

"Our defense in the second half was terrific and really got our transition game going," added Stephens "We dominated most of the second half.

Freshman Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) tallied 11 points for Drake.

Junior Monique' Jones (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit North) collected eight points, a team-leading eight rebounds and four steals.

There were six lead changes in the first half before the Bulldogs held Bradley without a basket for 5 minutes 1 second while going on an 8-0 run to enjoy a 30-22 lead it never relinquished.

Sonya Harris ended the Bradley drought with a basket with 1:41 left in the first half that ignited a 7-0 run to pull the Braves within 30-29.

But sophomore Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa/Lincoln) gave Drake a 33-29 halftime lead when she sank three free throws with three seconds left.

Bradley, which was held 18.6 points under its 71.0 point season average, fell to 13-4 overall, including a 4-2 conference record.

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