Thursday, January 5, 2012

WICHITA, Kan. - The Drake University women's basketball team dropped a 63-41 Missouri Valley Conference contest at Wichita State, Thursday at Charles Koch Arena. The loss put the Bulldogs at 7-6 overall and 1-1 in the Valley.

Drake started slow to open the game and allowed the Shockers to extend a 24-4 lead with 9:15 left until halftime. The Bulldogs rallied with a 15-2 run to cut Wichita State's advantage to just seven points, 26-19, at intermission. The run was powered by seven points by senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) and five by senior Amber Wollschlager (Milbank, S.D./Milbank).

"We played good basketball during those nine minutes at the end of the first half," said head coach Amy Stephens. "

Wichita State opened the second half with a 14-4 run and never looked back. The Shockers scored 37 second-half points en route to a 63-41 win.

Hackbarth scored a game-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 3-of-5 from the three throw line. Wollschlager scored a season-high 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

"I thought Amber [Wollschlager] did some good things," Stephens said.

Hackbarth and Wollschlager combined for 31 points on 13-of-19 shooting. All other Drake players scored 10 points on 4-of-27 shooting.

The Shockers scored 32 points in the paint and were led by Jessica Diamond's 13 points. Wichita State forced 21 Drake turnovers and scored 20 points off of Bulldog miscues.

"This is a fast, athletic team," Stephens said of Wichita State. "We started off slow and never recovered."

The Bulldogs meet Missouri State Saturday at 7 p.m. in Springfield, Mo.