CARBONDALE, Ill. – In a back-and-forth game that featured 17 lead changes and 10 score ties it was the Southern Illinois Salukis who edged the Drake Bulldogs, 81-76, in Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball action on Friday night at SIU Arena.
Sophomore Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) led Drake with 27 points while sophomore Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) posted 17 points, a career-tying 15 assists and six rebounds as she nearly finished with her second career triple-double.
The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for Drake who fell to 14-7 and 9-1 in the MVC. The Bulldogs came one win shy of the best league start in school history as the 1998 team opened their MVC campaign 10-0. SIU improved to 12-9 and 5-5 in the MVC with the win.
Rishonda Napier scored a game-high 30 points for the Salukis while Dyanna Pierre posted a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Wendell made two free throws with 5:55 in the game to put Drake up 64-58. However, SIU used a 6-0 scoring run to force the 10th tie in the contest at 64-64 after a layup from Pierre with 2:41 left. The two teams traded points until Cartesha Macklin knocked down a jumper and Pierre hit one of two free throws to extend SIU's margin to four points, 72-68, with 1:02 to play.
The Bulldogs battled back though as Wendell drilled her fifth three-pointer of the game to pull within one point at 72-71 with just 52 seconds remaining. SIU freshman Kylie Giebelhausen, who is the niece of Drake men's basketball coach Ray Giacoletti, hit a key three pointer with just 28 seconds left in the game to extend the lead back to four points, 75-71, as the Salukis then knocked down free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win. Ingle banked in a long three at the buzzer.
“Our rebounding disappointed me tonight,” said head coach Jennie Baranczyk of her team's effort on the glass as Southern Illinois outrebounded Drake, 47-36, and scored 17 second chance points. “Southern is a very good team and so are we, but we didn't show that tonight. We got rattled and this is part of the maturity process. When people circle you, you have to bring it every game and I don't think we brought it defensively tonight and we needed to.”
Three three-pointers by Wendell followed by a three from Carly Grenfell (York, Neb.) put Drake up 12-4 at the first media timeout of the night, taken at the 15:49 mark.
After the initial Drake run to start, the game tightened as the Bulldogs and Salukis traded baskets with eight lead changes and three score ties in the first half. Drake held a slight edge at the half as the Bulldogs led 40-39 behind a 7-of-12 performance from beyond the arc.
Wendell finished the first half with game-high 18 points while Grenfell scored nine. Ingle chipped in six points, seven assists and three rebounds. Wendell has now scored double figures every game this season and dating back to last season in 40 straight games.
Drake closes its two-game road trip on Sunday (Feb. 8) afternoon at Illinois State. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:05 p.m.
