Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The Drake University women's basketball
team weathered a second-half rally by St. Louis to capture a 62-60 victory over
the Billikens Sunday at Chaifetz Arena. The win was Drake's fourth-straight and
moved the Bulldogs to 5-4 on the season.
Drake opened the game a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor
and went on to shoot a season-high 61.5-percent in the first half. The Bulldogs
scored 40 points in the first half, the most in any half this season.
"I had a lot of confidence in our team during the first
half," head coach Amy Stephens said. "We executed well."
Drake came out of the locker room with just 11 points in
the half's first 11 minutes and allowed the Billikens to cut the lead to just
four, 51-47, at the 8:43 mark.
The Bulldogs rebounded with a 9-2 run to rebuild their
lead to double-digits, 60-49 at the seven-minute mark. The teams traded baskets
to put the score at 62-52 with 2:45 left. St. Louis scored the game's final
eight points, including a buzzer-beating lay-in, to put the final score at
62-60.
"We struggled down the stretch, but our clock management
was good," Stephens said. "Even thought we didn't score, we were running sets
deep into the shot clock and running out time."
Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis./Wisconsin
Lutheran) scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed eight boards. The effort was
Hackbarth's fourth-straight game with 20-plus points, including her fifth
overall - all Drake wins.
Freshman Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo./Webb City) scored
13 points - all in the opening half - and was a perfect 3-for-3 from
three-point range. Clark raised her season scoring average to 10.2 points per
game with her third-straight game in double figures.
"Kyndal [Clark] had a great first half for us," Stephens
added. "She struggled in the second half, but still played good minutes for us.
That's youth."
Drake lost the rebounding battle, 34-30, for just the
second time this season.
The win gave Drake its fourth-straight December victory
and marked the first time Drake has won four-in-a-row in December since 1999.
The Bulldogs travel to Iowa on Tuesday for a 7:05 p.m.
matchup.
