NORMAL, Ill. – Trailing by 17 points with less than six minutes left in the contest, the Drake University women's basketball team rallied to pull within six points four different times in the final minutes before falling just short in a 80-71 loss at Illinois State on Friday, Jan. 3.
In its Missouri Valley Conference opener, Drake (6-6, 0-1 MVC) was paced by junior Kyndal Clark's (Webb City, Mo.) game-high 23 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Ashley Bartow (Sun Prairie, Wis.) and freshman Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) each scored 13 points. Wendell pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.
Illinois State (2-9, 1-0 MVC) had four players in double figures with Alexis Foley's 20 points leading the way. Octavia Lump had 17 points, Lindsay Smith added 14 points and along with Foley's team-high paced the Redbirds' bench to 53 points. Stekara Hall was the other Redbird in double-digits with 14.
The Bulldogs struggled to protect the ball committing 22 turnovers that led to 28 Redbird points, but did not back down as they cut the deficit to 75-69 with 16 seconds after Wendell made a layup. However, Illinois State knocked down three out of four free throws to pull away for the win.
“They came out throwing punches and we didn't recover,” said head coach Jennie Baranczyk. “We made a couple of runs late in the second half and late in the first half, and we needed to make sure we did that at the beginning of the first half and the start of the second half.”
Foley came off the bench on fire with 11 early points to put the Redbirds up 20-9 at the under-12 media timeout with 11:54 left in the half. Illinois State would extend its lead to 23 points with just over seven minutes remaining, but Drake didn't give up as the Bulldogs battled back to trim their deficit to 45-35 at halftime.
“Give credit to Illinois State they came out with a new demeanor and great energy tonight and we didn't match that,” said Baranczyk. “We should have come out like that because that's Drake basketball, but we didn't and that's something we need to change."
Clark finished the first half with a team-high 13 points, while Bartow and Wendell added 11 points and nine points, respectively. Foley paced Illinois State with 17 points to help the Redbirds' bench outscore Drake's, 32-0.
Illinois State went 27-of-35 from the free throw line as it snapped a six-game losing streak. Drake outscored Illinois State, 40-24, in the paint and outrebounded them, 32-31. The Bulldogs' bench scored 16 points led by freshman Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa), who scored seven points in the final three and a half minutes in the rally attempt.
Drake continues its road trip Sunday, Jan. 5 at Indiana State (6-6, 1-0 MVC) with tipoff set for 1 p.m. CST. The Sycamores knocked off the UNI Panthers, 60-53, in their opener tonight.
