Friday, Jan. 27, 2012
DES
MOINES, Iowa – Led
by four Bulldogs scoring double-digits, the Drake women's basketball team
defeated the Bradley 77-62 on Friday at the Knapp Center.
The 77 points marked the highest-scoring output by the Bulldogs this season.
The Bulldogs
improved their record to 11-8 overall and 5-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. Drake now sits in
a three-way third-place tie with UNI and Missouri State, who are its next two
opponents.
Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) led
all scorers with 23 points and 13 rebounds. It marked the 12th time this
season that Hackbarth has tallied a double-double and it's the fifth game in a row
where she has accomplished the feat.
“Rachael has
played to her abilities,” said head coach Amy Stephens. “She draws so much
attention from the opposing defenses.”
Freshman Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.), after
being held scoreless in the initial stanza, scored 17 points in the second half,
which tied a career high that she set at Wisconsin back in December.
Redshirt junior Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley,
Minn.) added 11 points, while Amber Wollschlager (Milbanks, S.D.) had 10 points on the evening. It marked the
fifth time in seven contests that Wollchlager has reached the double-digit
scoring plateau.
The Bulldogs went
to the line 32 times during the contest and converted on 26 free throws, good
for a .813 clip. This represented the second consecutive game where the Bulldogs shot
better than 80 percent from the charity stripe.
Drake forced 22
Bradley turnovers and held the Braves to 3-16 from three-point land.
“We did a great
job defensively,” commented Stephens. “We guarded the three, and we didn't give
them a lot of meaningful transition points. I thought our players did a great
job.”
After falling down
9-0 early on the contest, Drake held a 29-24 lead over Bradley at half.
Hackbarth had 16 of Drake's 29 points after one stanza was in the books.
Drake saw its lead
trimmed down to four points early on in the second half, but held a
double-digit lead for the last 3:42 of the contest after a pair of McSparron free throws.
An in-state date
with UNI awaits the Bulldogs on Sunday, Jan. 29. Tipoff from the Knapp Center
is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.
