NORMAL, Ill. - Hot-shooting by
Illinois State was too much to overcome for the Drake women's basketball team
as the Redbirds defeated the Bulldogs, 81-57, Friday night at Redbird Arena.
Ashley Bartow (Sun Prairie, Wis.)
scored a career-high 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting but the Bulldogs (7-14, 2-8
MVC) made just 38.3 percent of their attempts from the floor in the loss. Drake
was held to just 5-of-20 from behind the three-point arc. Freshman Emma Donahue (Naperville, Ill.) came
off the bench to score a career-high six points and grab three boards in eight
minutes of play.
Jamie
Russell led Illinois State (14-8, 6-4 MVC) with 16 points to pace four Redbirds
in double figures including Janae Smith and Brianna Puni each with 15 points
and Maddie Oliver had 13 points. Illinois State finished 35-of-59 (59.3
percent) from the floor as they snapped a two-game losing streak.
Both
teams shot the ball well to start the game as the score was 10-10 at the first
official timeout. Drake was at 62.5 percent shooting while Illinois State was
at 55.6 percent.
Out of
the break, the Redbirds went on an 18-6 scoring run to build their lead to
28-16, the last points on a jumper by Puni that forced the Bulldogs to use a
timeout.
Trailing
32-16 the Bulldogs battled back to cut into the Redbirds' lead to 34-27, after
a three-pointer by Bartow with just under four minutes remaining in the half.
Illinois
State held a 40-28 halftime lead behind hot shooting as the Redbirds made 58.1
percent of their shots. Drake finished 13-of-29 (44.8 percent) from the floor and
was led by Bartow and Reid has each scored 11 points.
Stephanie Running's (Oak Creek, Wis.)
jumper from the left corner ended a nearly seven minute scoring drought for the
Bulldogs to start the second half. Kyndal
Clark (Webb City, Mo.) followed with her first points of the game on a deep
three-pointer. Clark, Drake's leading scorer at 14.4 points per game, was held
to just four points on the night.
Illinois
State would build its biggest lead of the night of 31 points on a three-point
play by Puni with 3:48 remaining in the game. Drake couldn't overcome the lead
as the Bulldogs were doomed by the scoring drought to start the half and the Redbirds
made 61 percent of their shots from the floor in the second half.
Drake
will conclude its two-game road trip at Indiana State this Sunday at 1:05 p.m.
