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Bradley Up Next For Women's Basketball

Women's Basketball Drake Athletics

Bradley Up Next For Women's Basketball

THE SETTING
    Fresh off a pair of home wins, the Drake University women's basketball team hits the road to Peoria, Ill. for a Missouri Valley Conference matchup with Bradley. Gametime is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Thursday at Renaissance Coliseum.

FOLLOW THE BULLDOGS
    All Drake women's basketball games, home and away, will be broadcast on KRNT (AM 1350). Scott Pierce will call the action.
    All home games will be video streamed live, online as part of the True Blue TV pack at www.godrakebulldogs.com.
    Live stats for every game are available for free at www.godrakebulldogs.com.

ABOUT BRADLEY
    The Braves are 11-11 overall and eighth in the Missouri Valley Conference at 4-7. Bradley has won three of its last five contests, including a 73-68 victory at Missouri State on Feb. 4.
    Sophomore Katie Yohn is Bradley's leading scorer and ranks sixth in the MVC at 13.4 points per game. An Honorable Mention all-conference and MVC all-freshman Team member last season, Yohn became the first Bradley freshman to lead the team in scoring since 1978.
    Bradley's second-leading scorer, senior guard Raisa Taylor, is the school's active career scoring leader. This season, Taylor is averaging 12.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest while shooting 47.6 percent from the field.
    Junior forward MacKenzie Westcott led Bradley on last week's road trip through Wichita State and Missouri State. Westcott set career scoring marks in both games, totaling 19 at Missouri State and a career-high 24 at Wichita State. Westcott was scoreless Jan. 13 at Drake.
    The Braves are coached by the dean of MVC head coaches, 11th-year coach Paula Buscher.

DRAKE VS. BRADLEY
    Drake leads the series, 44-14, including 18-9 in Peoria. The Bulldogs are 10-6 overall against Bradley under Amy Stephens, but are just 3-4 in Peoria. Drake will make its initial appearance at Bradley's newly-opened Renaissance Coliseum Feb. 10. Drake won 19-straight contests in the series between 1994 and 2004; the second-longest winning streak against any single opponent in Drake annals.

VERY IMPORTANT PERSON
    Sophomore Kayla Person put together back-to-back double-digit scoring efforts for the first time in her career last week. Person totaled 11 points and four assists against Southern Illinois Saturday night after scoring a career-high 15 points against Evansville on Thursday. The sophomore averaged more than twice her season scoring average during last week's games (13.0 to 5.2).
    After tallying eight points and five turnovers in the first half against Evansville, Person scored 18 points and totaled just 3 turnovers during the subsequent three halves.

NOW BOARDING
    Drake and Bradley are tied for first in the Valley in defensive rebounding. Both teams allow just 34.8 rebounds per game to opponents - the fewest in the conference.
    Bradley is the MVC's top team in terms of rebounding margin at +5.8 per game. Drake is fourth, outrebounding opponents by 1.6 per game. Additionally, the Braves lead the conference in offensive rebound percentage at .372.

BALL SECURITY
    Drake earned a 68-64 victory against Bradley Jan. 13 largely because it turned the ball over just 14 times, tying for the third-fewest of the season. Turnovers on the whole were down slightly during last week's 2-0 showing. Drake averaged 17 turnovers per game last week against Southern Illinois and Evansville, down from 19.5 per game during the season.

THE BACK NINE
    With regard to the MVC schedule, Drake typically is a slow starter and a strong finisher. Under Amy Stephens, Drake is 35-37 (.508) during the first half of the Valley slate and 39-28 (.576) in “back nine” games. In addition, The Bulldogs registered a 55-35 (.611) first half record and an incredible 64-26 (.711) back nine mark during the last decade (2000-09).
    Last season marked the first time since 2001 the Bulldogs did not equal or improve on their first half conference record. Previously, the Bulldogs had equaled or bettered their first half conference record during the “back nine” in nine straight campaigns.

A NEW MONTH
    After an up-and down January, Drake enters a new month with history on its side. The Bulldogs are 197-83 (.703) all-time in February. Drake has posted winning records in 29 of its 36 February slates, including six undefeated months (1978,1984, 1986, 1997, 2001, 2002).

NCAA RPI
    Drake moved to 150 in the fourth week of the NCAA RPI list, four spots below its previous ranking. Drake ranks behind Missouri State (45), UNI (56), Creighton (65), Illinois State (78), Indiana State (122) and Wichita State (149) in the MVC.

TRENDING
•    Senior Kristin Turk needs eight more three-pointers to crack the single-season top-10 list with 63.
•    Turk needs six more steals to rank 10th on the single-season steals list at 72.
•    If the season ended today, freshman Angela Christianson's free throw percentage (.889) would rank sixth on the Drake single-season list.
•    With 1,250 career points, Turk needs 93 points to tie former teammate Jordann Plummer  (2005-10) for 16th place on the all-time Drake scoring list at 1,343 points.
•    Rachael Hackbarth currently ranks eighth on the all-time Drake blocks list with 67 deflections. Hackbarth needs nine more to tie Lorri Bauman (1980-84) for seventh place at 76 blocks.
•    At 858 career points, Hackbarth needs 142 points to become the 22nd member of Drake's 1,000-Point Club. Hackbarth would need to finish the season with 420 total points to reach the milestone, an improvement of 52 from last season's total.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS
•     Senior Kristin Turk has led Drake in scoring in 20 of 22 games and is the Valley scoring leader at 20.2 points per game. Turk also leads the conference in steals at 3.0 per game.
•    Turk's scoring average ranks 14th in the nation while her steals per game rank 22nd.
•    Junior Rachael Hackbarth ranks ninth in the MVC with 12.5 points per game.
•    Hackbarth's 7.4 rebounds per game rank sixth in the conference.
•    Freshman Angela Christianson's .889 free throw percentage ranks third in the MVC and 11th in the nation.
•    As a team, Drake ranks 34th in the nation with a .740 free throw percentage.
•    The Bulldogs are 11-2 when shooting better than opponents and 0-9 when shooting worse.
•    Turk's career scoring average has jumped from 9.0 to 11.3 points per game this season.

TURK NAMED MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
    Senior Kristin Turk earned MVC Player of the Week honors for her efforts during the week of Jan 3-9, the conference announced Monday (Jan. 10). The award was Turk's third of the season and fourth of her career. Turk became the first Drake player to earn three MVC Player of the Week honors in a single season since Jill Martin (2003-08) earned four during the 2007-08 season.

1,000 POINT CLUB
    Senior guard Kristin Turk became the 21st member of Drake's 1,000-point club with her first basket against Air Force on Dec. 22. Turk broke the 1,000-point barrier in her 100th career game as a Bulldog.

FREE THROW NUMBERS
    Freshman Angela Christianson made 22-straight free throws dating back to Drake's 67-52 victory at Northern Arizona on Nov. 27. Christianson missed a pair at the 8:20 mark of the first half against the Lumberjacks and played 185-straight minutes without missing from the stripe until a misfire in the first half at Southern Illinois.

DRAKE SWEEPS MVC WEEKLY AWARDS
    Drake senior Kristin Turk and freshman Angela Christianson earned Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Player and Newcomer of the Week honors, respectively, for the week of Nov. 29 – Dec. 5, the conference announced Dec. 6.
    No Drake tandem had swept the MVC weekly awards since Jill Martin (2003-08) and Jordann Plummer (2005-10) did so on Feb. 6, 2006. Additionally, Turk became the first Drake performer to win back-to-back awards since Martin did it on Feb. 27 and March 6, 2006.
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Players Mentioned

Angela Christianson

#31 Angela Christianson

G
6' 0"
Freshman
Rachael Hackbarth

#15 Rachael Hackbarth

F
6' 3"
Junior
Kayla Person

#22 Kayla Person

G
5' 7"
Sophomore
Kristin Turk

#23 Kristin Turk

G
5' 9"
Senior
Jordann Plummer

#21 Jordann Plummer

G
5' 6"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Angela Christianson

#31 Angela Christianson

6' 0"
Freshman
G
Rachael Hackbarth

#15 Rachael Hackbarth

6' 3"
Junior
F
Kayla Person

#22 Kayla Person

5' 7"
Sophomore
G
Kristin Turk

#23 Kristin Turk

5' 9"
Senior
G
Jordann Plummer

#21 Jordann Plummer

5' 6"
Senior
G