Women's Basketball 2/10/2011 11:09:00 PM Drake Athletics

Second Half Rally Gives Drake 67-65 Victory Over Bradley

PEORIA, Ill. – A furious second-half rally powered the Drake University women's basketball team to a thrilling 67-65 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Bradley Thursday night (Feb. 10) at Renaissance Coliseum. The win was Drake's third-straight.

Bradley led by as many as 15 in the second half and held a 10-point, 61-51, lead with 3:45 left in the game. The Bulldogs rallied with a 15-1 run from 3:45 to 0:26, turning a 10-point deficit into a four-point, 66-62, lead with 26 seconds left.

Sophomore Kayla Person (St. Louis, Mo.) scored six points during the run, including a pair of free throws at the back end, her 15th and career-high 16th points, to put Drake up four. Bradley sophomore Katie Yohn went the length of the floor and drained a three with 14 ticks left, cutting Drake's lead to 66-65.

Senior Kristin Turk (Des Moines, Iowa) hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to two. Hanna Muegge missed her attempt at the buzzer to close Drake's improbable comeback.

“We refused to go away,” said head coach Amy Stephens, whose squad improved to 12-11 overall and 6-6 in the Valley. “It just snowballed, positive for us, negative for Bradley.”

Person and Turk tied for the team lead with 16 points each, leading four Bulldogs in double figures. Juniors Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) and Amber Wollschlager (Milbank, S.D.) totaled 15 and 10 points, respectively.

The Bulldogs were beaten on the boards, 40-30, including 13-6 on the offensive end. Drake escaped the first half behind by just one, 27-26, despite trailing 20-12 in the rebounds column, including 7-1 on the offensive glass. The win was Drake's first of the season after trailing at halftime.

Drake hung around in the opening half with help from Person and Stephanie Running (Oak Creek, Wis.) who tallied eight and six points, respectively, to lead the Bulldogs.

“She can make plays,” said Stephens of Person. “She can be a difference maker.”

Bradley emerged from the locker room and promptly executed a 13-5 run. The Braves outscored Drake 20-11 during the first eight minutes of the second half, building a double-digit lead, 47-37, by the 12-minute mark. Bradley built its lead to its highest point, 54-39 at the 9:27 mark, before Drake rallied.

“We were self destructing,” Stephens added. “Give Bradley credit for doing some things to catch us off guard.”

Drake travels to Cedar Falls, Iowa for a televised matchup against UNI. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. and can be seen on Mediacom. Rob Brooks and Cindy Stein will have the call.

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