CHICAGO – The Drake University women's basketball team started 2015 with a 86-60 road victory at Loyola in the Missouri Valley Conference opener for both teams. Drake sophomore Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) scored a game-high 27 points, while freshman Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) added a career-high points 23 points and 10 rebounds in her first career start.

The two teams started slowly on the offensive end as Drake (6-6, 1-0 MVC) freshman Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) scored the contest's first points nearly two minutes in. Loyola (2-10, 0-1 MVC) scored the next four points, but a 11-0 scoring run by the Bulldogs along with forcing seven consecutive Ramblers' turnovers gave the Bulldogs a 11-4 lead as they never trailed again in the game. Later, a 20-3 scoring run helped Drake extend its lead to 24-7 at the 10:52 mark as the Bulldogs went in to halftime with a commanding 47-22 advantage. They finished the first half at 48 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three-point range.

In the second half, Loyola pulled within 15 points with under 12 minutes to go in the game, but Drake answered with another 11-0 scoring to put the game away as the Bulldogs would lead by as many as 26 points on their way to claiming their first conference opening win since the 2011-12 campaign.

“We started trying to create something out of nothing to start the second half,” said Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk. “We came out and they definitely had the energy at the first two media timeouts and we came in and said okay we either need to take that energy or we don't. At the next media we started turning it around and then from about the seven minute mark to the four minute mark we grabbed the momentum with another run.”

Sophomore Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) scored just two points in the game, but dished out a game-high nine assists along with nabbing four steals before fouling out. Dean recorded her second career double-double, while freshman Paige Greiner (Williamsburg, Iowa) chipped in a career-high eight points off the bench.

Senior Carly Grenfell (York, Neb.) was the other Bulldog in double-figures as she tallied 12 points off the bench. Along with leading all scorers, Wendell posted solid numbers across the scorebook as she added six rebounds, five assists and five steals in 32 minutes. Wendell knocked down 6-of-8 from the free throw line, while Dean made 7-of-8 and Grenfell 4-of-4 as the team finished the game 17-of-21 (81 percent).

“I thought Lizzy not only did a great job scoring, but did many other things really well tonight,” commented Baranczyk on the play of the sophomore who has now scored 20-plus points in five-straight games and in a conference-leading nine games on the season.

“Maddy did a really nice job tonight,” Baranczyk said of Dean who started her first career game in place of the injured Cortni Rush. “Her rebounding was huge and the way she went to the line and knocked the in. I thought she was really poised. Caitlin even though she battled foul trouble, did a nice job of helping Maddy play so well by getting her the ball in the right spots. Carly did a phenomenal job as our spark player.”

Wendell ended the first half with a game-high 18 points. A deep three-pointer at the 12:34 mark in the opening half, gave her 801 career points and she now has 818 in 44 career games.