Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012

EVANSVILLE, Ind -- The Drake women's basketball team snapped its four-game losing streak defeating Evansville 55-51 on Sunday, Feb. 12 at the Ford Center.

Drake improves to 12-12 on the season and 6-7 in league play with the victory, while the Purples Aces fall to 5-19 overall, 2-11 in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) collected her 17th double-double on the campaign tallying 18 points on eight-for-11 shooting, while pulling down 14 rebounds.

Sophomore Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo.) had an eight-point and five-rebound effort, while Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn) registered seven points. Redshirt freshman Carly Grenfell chipped in five points and a game-high four assists.

Drake dominated down low scoring 36 of its 55 points in the paint. The Blue and White also had 19 points off its bench compared to Evansville's four.

Drake had a 28-23 lead at half as all nine Bulldogs that hit the floor tallied marks in the scoring column. The Bulldogs led by as many as 11 points in the first half.

In the second half, Drake had an eight point advantage before Evansville went on an 11-2 run to take its only lead of the game with 4:40 left. The lead for the Lady Aces only lasted 14 seconds as McSparron's lay in with 4:26 to go gave the Bulldogs the lead for good.

The Bulldogs dominated the glass pulling in 44 rebounds in comparison to the Purple Aces' 27. 

Leading Evansville was West Des Moines native Staci Gillum who tallied 15 points, while Samantha Heck added 10 points and eight boards. 

Drake will host Illinois State on Friday, Feb. 17 in a 7:05 p.m. affair at the Knapp Center.