DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team rallied to beat its former Missouri Valley Conference rival the Creighton Bluejays, 62-55, to start the 2013-14 season in front of 3,126 fans at the Knapp Center on Friday night. The Bulldogs overcame a 30-26 halftime deficit to snap a three-game losing streak to the Bluejays and earn their first season-opening win since the 2010-11 campaign.
Junior guard Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) poured in a team-high 19 points and added five rebounds, four steals and two assists for Drake (1-0). Senior forward Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo.) had 16 points and a game-leading seven rebounds, while freshman forward Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) scored 13 points off the bench in her debut. Wendell added five rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes.
“At the 10:25 mark in the second half we took the lead and Creighton never got it back,” said Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk. “We didn't necessarily take bad shots in the first half they just didn't fall, but in the second half we turned it around and knocked down 4-of-6 from the three-point line. I'm proud of our team and how they fed off this great crowd we had tonight.”
Clark knocked down back-to-back three's, the last at the 10:06 mark in the second half, to give the Bulldogs the lead at 44-41, which they never relinquished.
Creighton (0-1), who left the MVC after last season for the newly configured Big East, shot just 24.1 percent (7-of-29) in the second half tonight. Drake forced 22 Creighton turnovers and scored 23 points off of the turnovers.
The Bluejays were paced by sophomore guard Marissa Janning's game-high 21 points. Janning, the 2012-13 MVC Freshman of the Year, committed six turnovers and fouled out. McKenzie Fujan added 13 points, while Sarah Nelson chipped in eight points. Nelson was held scoreless in the second half.
Drake raced out to a 12-4 lead early as Creighton was forced to quickly call its first timeout of the game at the 15:13 mark. Wendell scored five points in the scoring burst. The Bulldogs extended the margin to 22-20, before the Bluejays used a 10-4 scoring to take a 30-26 halftime lead.
In the first half, Reid led Drake with eight points and seven rebounds, while Nelson paced Creighton with eight points and four rebounds. Wendell had seven points.
The Bulldogs struggled from behind the three-point line hitting just 1-out-9 (11.1 percent) in the opening half, before bouncing back in the second half connecting on 4-of-6 (66.7 percent) from three-point range. Drake finished the night at 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from the floor, while outscoring Creighton 28-20 in the paint.
Out of the halftime break, Drake regained the lead, 32-30, on consecutive three-pointers by Clark and Alyssa Marschner (Plymouth, Minn.) as Creighton called timeout with 19:02 remaining in the game. The game featured four ties and seven lead changes.
Drake has a fast turnaround for its next game traveling to Wisconsin this Sunday, Nov. 10. Tip-off with the Badgers is scheduled for 2 p.m. Live stats will be available at www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com.
