NORMAL, ILL. -- Illinois State
scored seven unanswered points to break a 41-41 tie midway through the second
half which proved to be the difference as the Redbirds handed the Drake women's
basketball team its fourth straight loss with a 61-51 decision Saturday.
Freshman guard Katie Broadway, who was averaging 2.8 points,
scored five straight points during the surge for Illinois State.
Trailing 34-25, the Bulldogs went on a 13-2 run to grab
their first lead of the game at 38-37 following a three-point play by freshman
guard Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley,
Minn./Eastview) with 10:16
left.
Despite the loss, Drake coach Amy Stephens was pleased with
her team's effort in holding Illinois State, 14 points below its Missouri
Valley Conference leading 75.2 scoring average.
The Bulldogs forced Illinois State
into 16 turnovers, converting those miscues into 19 points.
"We didn't back down," said Stephens. "Our
kids played with emotion and played hard. We stopped their transition. We dug
our heels and got stops.
"We just have to get better offensively."
Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal
Ritter) and Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa/Lincoln), Drake's top two leading
scorers, were held to a combined seven points. The duo made a combined three of
11 shots from the floor.
Turk, who played just 17 minutes, scored a season-low two
points.
Illinois
State opened the game
with a 9-0 run before Drake came within four (12-8) at the 13:29 mark.
That was followed by another 9-0 Illinois State
run with the Redbirds taking their largest lead of 13 (21-8) with 9:51
remaining in the first.
Drake came within seven at the seven minute mark on a three-point basket by senior
forward Kelsey Keizer (Arnolds Park,
Iowa/Okoboji) before the Redbirds
rallied for a 30-19 halftime lead.
Junior Forward Monique' Jones (Lee's Summit,
Mo./Lee's Summit North) led Drake with 12 points, followed by forward Lauren Dybing (Bloomington, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) with nine points and McSparron with
eight points.
The Drake bench outscored the Illinois State
bench, 32-9, while the Redbirds outrebounded the Bulldogs, 39-31.
Keizer
led Drake with seven rebounds.
After shooting 32 percent in the first half (8-of-25), Drake
finished the game shooting 40.4 percent (21-of-52).
Illinois
State, which improved to
11-3, including a 2-0 league mark, was led by two-time conference MVP Kristi
Cirone with 21 points, including 14 in the first half.
Drake, which fell to 6-7 and 0-2 in the MVC, will return
home next Thursday hosting Wichita
State.
