Women's Basketball 1/21/2012 10:00:00 AM Drake Athletics

Drake Women's Basketball Faces Indiana State In Sunday Matinee

Saturday, January 21, 2012

THIS WEEK: The Drake women's basketball team heads to Terre Haute, Ind. to take on Indiana State Sunday (Jan. 22) at 1:05 p.m. The contest will wrap up a two-game road swing that began on Friday with an overtime loss to Illinois State, 71-67.

QUICKLY:

Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) leads the Valley in rebounding (10.2 rpg), while she is second in scoring (18.1 ppg).
Hackbarth is 16-points shy of passing Jordann Plummer (2005-10) for 17th-place on the all-time Drake scoring list.
Hackbarth has a streak of three double-doubles coming into the Indiana State contest.Hackbarth has 1,327 points in her Drake career, while Plummer tallied 1,343.
Illinois State came into Friday's game as the nation's second-best three-point shooting team with 40.9-percent clip, but the Bulldogs, who sport the MVC's best three-point defense, held the Redbirds to a 28.6-percent effort.
Indiana State began league play with a 4-0 record, but have dropped its past two games, including a 64-62 home loss to Creighton on Friday.
Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn.) has scored in double figures in six of her last seven games, including four-straight. McSparron tallied 18 points against Illinois State, which tied a career high for the redshirt junior.
Amber Wollschlager (Milbanks, S.D.) is averaging 9.3 points per game over her last five games after registering just 4.7 during her first 12. She had 15 points against the Redbirds, which was her highest scoring mark of the season.
Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) has been lighting it up from three-point land with a 43.8-percent mark, which is the fourth-best mark in the Valley.

LAST OUTING (Jan. 20, 2012: at Illinois State 71, Drake 67 OT): The Drake women's basketball team, after forcing the contest into overtime with a second-half rally, fell to Illinois State by a count of 71-67 on Friday (Jan. 20).

Senior Rachael Hackbarth, after scoring only seven points during regulation, scored five in the extra stanza to help give Drake a 67-62 lead in its first overtime game of the season. Illinois State had an answer with a 9-0 run to finish off the extra period.

Hackbarth ended the night with a 12-point, 15-rebound and three-assist performance, but was plagued by foul trouble throughout. Hackbarth picked up her third foul with 1:30 in the first half and her fourth with 14:48 left in regulation.

Leading the Bulldogs in the scoring column was redshirt junior Brittnye McSparron who scored 18 points and was a perfect 6-for 6 from the charity stripe. Senior Amber Wollschlager added 15 points and shot 7-for-12 from the field.

ABOUT INDIANA STATE: The Sycamores enter Sunday's contest with a 10-7 overall record and a 4-2 league mark. Indiana State was picked to finish fifth in the Valley and its conference start is its best since the 2008-09 campaign.

Shannon Thomas leads the Sycamores averaging close to a double-double this season. Thomas is recording 13.1 points per contest and her 9.9 rebounds per game average is behind only Drake's Rachael Hackbarth in the Valley. Deja Mattox leads Indiana State in scoring during conference play with 15.8 points per contest and has reached double-digit point totals in each of her past six games. She also ranks second in the league in three point percentage on the season with a 45.2-percent clip. Anna Munn averages 10.9 points per game and shoots 42.3-percent from beyond the arc, good for seventh in the Valley.

Indiana State is coached by second-year head coach Terri Moren. She has a 26-24 mark at the helm of the Sycamore program.

DRAKE VS. INDIANA STATE: Drake leads the all-time series by a 45-18 margin, and leads the series 15-14 in Terre Haute, Ind. The Bulldogs have lost four out of their last five contests in Terre Haute including last year's overtime loss on Jan. 20, 2010 (74-77).

THE LAST TIME (Feb. 19, 2011: at Drake 72, Indiana State 67): The Bulldogs used a 22-5 second half run to down Indiana State, 72-67 at the Knapp Center.

Drake trailed by nine, 46-37, with 13:19 left in the contest, when a layup by senior Kristin Turk kicked off the 22-5 run. Turk scored Drake's next six points and was joined on the run with seven points from Rachael Hackbarth and six from Amber Wollschlager. The stretch lasted nearly nine minutes and gave Drake a 59-51 lead with 4:33 to play.

POW: Senior Rachael Hackbarth was named MVC Player of the Week on Monday (Jan. 16). The award, her fourth of the season, puts the senior in elite company in MVC history. Hackbarth becomes just the 10th player in Valley history to earn four or more Player of the Week awards in a single season. She joins former Bulldogs Kristin Turk (2010-11 - four awards), Jill Martin (2007-08 - four awards), Tricia Wakely (1994-95 - four awards) and Wanda Ford (1985-86 - five awards) on the list.

HOME SWEET HOME: After playing five of its first seven conference games away from home, Drake will begin a four-game homestand next Friday (Jan. 27) against Bradley. The Bulldogs have a 6-1 record on the Ron Pearson Court at the Knapp Center, but are 3-7 in games played on the road or on neutral courts.

DOLLAR DAY ON FRIDAY: The Drake women's basketball game against Bradley on will be a “Dollar Day”. All game tickets are $1, as well as hot dogs, popcorn and sodas for $1 each. Tipoff is set for 7:05 p.m.

UP ON SAMES: Senior Rachael Hackbarth passed Haley Sames (1996-2000) for sole possession of ninth place on the all-time Drake rebounding list last week against Evansville. Hackbarth, with 730 career rebounds, looks up at Jan Jensen (1987-91) in eighth place with 750 career boards.

CHECKING UP: Former Drake guard Kristin Turk (2007-11) signed a pro basketball contract with Mark Basket in Sweden in December. Through five games, Turk leads the Damligan League in scoring with 24.8 points per game.

KYNDALING: Freshman Kyndal Clark is Drake's third-leading scorer and ranks second among Valley freshman with 9.2 points per game. Clark's 43.8-percent clip from beyond the arc is the fourth-best mark in the league. Clark has a chance to become the first Drake freshman to average in double figures since Lindsay Whorton (2004-08) and Brandy Dahir (2004-08) averaged 11.7 and 10.8 points per game, respectively, during the 2004-05 season.

HACKBARTH CENTRAL: Senior Rachael Hackbarth passed Jenni Fitzgerald (1986-90, 1,212 pts.) for 18th place on the all-time Drake scoring list against Loyola. Hackbarth can become one of Drake's 10 most-prolific scorers if she totals 586 or more points this season.

Between Hackbarth and the Top Ten:

10) 1,605 Tricia Wakely (1992-96)

11) 1,598 Kiersten Miller (1994-98)

12) 1,566 Kristi Kinne (1991-95)

13) 1,564 Lindsay Whorton (2004-08)

14) 1,559 Julie Rittgers (1991-95)

15) 1,405 Kristin Turk (2007-11)

16) 1,351 Connie Newlin (1978-82)

17) 1,343 Jordann Plummer (2005-10)

18) 1,327 Rachael Hackbarth (2008-Present)

19) 1,212 Jenni Fitzgerald (1986-90)

20) 1,129 Linda Sayavongchanh (2002-06)