Women's Basketball 1/24/2010 6:00:00 PM Drake Athletics

Braves Beat Drake On Last-Second Shot

DES MOINES, IOWA -- Sonya Harris' 30-foot buzzer beating bank shot lifted Bradley to a 61-58 Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball victory past Drake Sunday.

With the score tied at 58, Drake had an opportunity to win the game but guard Jordann Plummer's (St. Louis, Mo.) pass intended for Monique' Jones (Lee's Summit, Mo.) under the Bulldog basket went out of bounds with 1.3 seconds left.

Following a time out, Bradley guard Brooke Bisping threw a three-quarters court baseball pass to Harris who was positioned at corner of the center court logo. Harris' turn-around push shot sent the Braves to their fifth straight victory.

"We didn't deny or pressure the pass, but it didn't come down to that last shot, said Drake head coach Amy Stephens, whose squad fell to 11-7, including 4-4 in the MVC. "The difference was that we didn't take care of the basketball."

The lead changed hands six times and the score was tied five times in the second half. Bradley took a two point lead, 58-56, at the 1:41 mark when Renee Frericks caromed an inbounds pass off the back of Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn.), stepped in-bounds and made an easy layup.

"We lost our focus and got lackadaisical with the ball,"" Stephens added. "I feel like we did a much better job competing today. We're making positive progress. We have to work to continue to get better.

Sophomore center Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) and sophomore forward Amber Wollschlager (Milbank, S.D.) led Drake with 14 points apiece. Hackbarth had 12 points in the second half.

Two free throws by Wollschlager gave Drake it's largest lead of the game, a 47-39 advantage with 13:29 left in the game. But the Bulldogs suffered through a 6 minute 28 second stretch without making a basket. At one stage, Drake committed turnovers on seven straight possessions.

Bradley took advantage by going on a 10-0 run, with two free throws by Frericks giving the Braves a 48-47 lead with 7:59 left.

Drake closed out the game making four of its last 15 shots.

"It didn't come down to that shot, it was a lot of other things that we didn't do," added Drake junior Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa) who scored eight points off the bench.

The loss was Drake's second-straight. The last time the Bulldogs dropped two straight, coincidentally, was against UNI and Bradley on Feb. 19 and 21, 2009.

Drake travels to Omaha, Neb. to take on Creighton Friday, Jan. 29. Tipoff is at 7:35 p.m. Fox Sports Midwest will be televising the affair with Mitch Holthus and Jill Hutchinson on the call.

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