LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Drake Bulldogs late rally fell just short as the University of California at Irvine prevailed, 69-64, Friday afternoon at the Aggie Hotel Encanto Thanksgiving Classic in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Bulldogs fell behind 13 points with just over five minutes left in the game but fought back to cut the Anteaters lead to just one, 65-64, after Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) buried a three-pointer with 39 seconds left in the game. After Drake called a timeout, the Anteaters' Methlyn Onogomuho rebounded a miss by Jasmine Bernard and scored on a putback to extend the lead to 67-64 with 14 seconds. Clark had a good look on a three-point attempt but it was long and the Anteaters pulled down the board with just two seconds on the clock and Drake was forced to foul. Pernilla Hanson hit two free throws to seal the game for UCI (1-4).

"We fought back in the last five minutes of the game and I'm proud of the fight we showed," Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "But we have some work to do learning how to come ready to play out of halftime. Part of that is maturity with us being such a young team but we will continue to get better. We also have to fight on the boards and come up with some of those loose balls at the end of the game."

Junior Mary Pat Specht (Shawnee, Kan.) had her best game in her first season at Drake (1-2) as she came off the bench to score 15 points. Senior Stephanie Running (Oak Creek, Wis.) also had 15 points and added nine rebounds. Clark finished with 13 points and six rebounds.

"Mary Pat brought great energy off the bench today and I wish we could have gotten a few more touches for Stephanie especially at the end but she struggled with foul trouble," Baranczyk said.

Four Anteaters scored in double figures led by Jennifer Tsurumoto, who scored a game-high 23 points and added five rebounds. Onogomuho had 11 points with eight rebounds and Bernard and Lauren Spinazee each scored 10 points.

Both teams battled shooting woes in the first half as the Bulldogs shot 32.3 percent (10-of-31) and the Anteaters 32.4 percent (11-of-34) from the field. The Bulldogs held a 29-28 lead going into halftime.

Two free throws by Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo.) gave the Bulldogs a 38-36 lead with 15:56 remaining in the second half. It would be the last lead of the day for Drake as UCI went on a 25-10 scoring run to build a 13-point lead, 61-48, with just over five minutes left in the contest.

Specht sparked the Bulldogs early with six-straight points, the last on a deep three-pointer to help take the lead back at 14-13 with 9:33 minutes left in the opening half. She added another big three and a layup and finished the period with 11 points.

UCI edged Drake, 43-42, on the boards and limited the Bulldogs to just 34.4 percent (11-of-32) in the second half. UCI knocked down 16-of-35 (45.7 percent) from the floor in the second half.

Drake will play George Mason game tomorrow at 5 p.m. central time. New Mexico State defeated George Mason, 55-52 in the second game of the evening. Live stats will be available at www.godrakebulldogs.com and be sure to tune into KRNT-1350 AM to listen to Ric Silvestrini call the action.