Friday, Nov. 18

DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake University women's basketball team downed Milwaukee, 63-51, for its first victory of the 2011-12 season Friday night at the Knapp Center. The win put Drake at 1-2 overall.

The Bulldogs shot 57.4-percent (27-of-47) on the night, including 60.9-percent (14-of-23) in the second half. Drake's 44-26 rebounding advantage proved to be the difference in the game.

Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) scored a game-high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting and added 11 rebounds for her second-straight double-double. The senior was honored for becoming the 22nd member of the Drake 1,000-Point Club in a pregame ceremony.

"I'm proud of the way Rachael has made herself a better basketball player every year she's been in our program," said head coach Amy Stephens. "She does it the right way."

Hackbarth led three Bulldogs in double figures, including freshman Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo./Webb City), who tallied 12 points - six on a pair of three-pointers - three days after scoring 15 against Iowa State. The freshman added five assists and ranks as Drake's third-leading scorer through three contests with 9.7 points per game.

"It's great to see Kyndal [Clark] step up and be our third scorer," Stephens said. "We're still a team trying to find [itself], but it's great to have Kyndal be there in double figures."

Redshirt junior Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point range. McSparron added five rebounds, four steals and three assists in 28 minutes on the floor.

The Bulldogs never trailed and led by as many as 19 in the second half. Milwaukee was unable to capitalize on a lopsided 22-7 turnover margin in its favor and shot just 7-of-17 from the line.

73-percent of Drake's points (46) came from the above three players. Junior Stephanie Running (Oak Creek Wis./Oak Creek) scored four points after totaling a career-high 20 earlier this week against Iowa State. Sophomore Morgan Reid (North Kansas City, Mo./North Kansas City) joined Running with four.

"We need to get to 70-to-75 points consistently," Stephens said. "We need to get more people involved."

The Bulldogs leave for Cancun, Mexico to compete in the Triple Crown Cancun Challenge on Tuesday. Drake meets 2011 NCAA Tournament participant Marist next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. central time before taking on 2011 WNIT participant Hofstra Friday at 1:30 p.m.