DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake women's basketball team won its second consecutive conference game topping Northern Iowa, 63-55, Sunday afternoon at the Knapp Center in front of 2,585 fans. The win snapped a six-game losing streak to the Panthers.

Drake (7-12, 2-6 MVC) was led by junior Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo.), who recorded her sixth double-double of the season with a career-high 17 points along with 12 rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Carly Grenfell (York, Neb.) and senior Stephanie Running (Oak Creek, Wis.) both added 10 points. Sophomore Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) recorded nine points, nine boards, four assists and two steals.

"We were very composed today and that's one of the things we are most proud of, learning from one day to the next," said Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk. "That's one of the lessons that we learned in the Bradley game. This game we knew UNI was going to make a run. They're a great team, they have a phenomenal player, and I think Jacqui Kalin is one of the best players not only in this conference but in the country. I was really proud of our composure today."

Drake struggled from the field early but took the lead for good with 5:42 remaining in the first half after Running's jumper made the score, 18-16. The Bulldogs posted a 48.3 percent mark in the second half to finish the game with a 40.0 percent shooting clip.

The Panthers (8-11, 3-4) were shut down by the Drake defense, shooting just 33.3 percent from the field. Drake controlled the boards holding a 50-35 rebounding margin.

Northern Iowa was led by Kalin, who leads the Valley in scoring average, with a game-high 22 points and 11 rebounds but Kalin made just 2-of-10 from behind the arc. Amber Kirschbaum finished with 10 points for the Panthers.

"We started Mary Pat Specht on her (Kalin) for a little bit, and (Carly) Grenfell was on her," said Baranczyk. "I don't know if we really got to keep her in check much, she's a good player and she had to work for everything. We had really good team defense today, (Ashley) Bartow had to step out on her a couple of times. I'm most proud of our overall team defense."

After the two teams swapped baskets for most of the second half, it seemed that Drake would pull away with a 9-2 run to increase its lead to 13 points, 50-37, with 5:02 remaining in the game. However, UNI put together a 7-0 run to cut the Bulldogs' lead to five points (54-49) with less than two minutes left in the game. The Panthers once again cut the lead to five points (58-53) with just under 30 seconds, but could not get any closer as Drake was able to hit its free throws to put the game away.

Drake used a 9-1 run over the last 9:11 in the first half to take a 22-17 lead into the locker room. Despite having six more scoring chances than UNI, the Bulldogs had difficulties capitalizing on these chances, hitting on 10-of-31 (32.3 percent) from the field.

The Bulldogs held the Panthers without a field goal for more than 14 minutes, stretching from midway in the first half till Jen Keitel's layup at the 16:10 mark in the closing half. Drake held the Panthers to 17 points in the opening half, matching the season-low allowed by the Bulldogs (Chicago State).

The Bulldogs will conclude their homestand Saturday, hosting Creighton, in the front end of a doubleheader with the men's basketball team. Tipoff for the women's game is scheduled for 3 p.m. and can be heard on KRNT-1350 AM. The Drake men's team will play Indiana State at 6:35 p.m.

Please click here for a complete photo gallery from today's game.