NEW ORLEANS – Freshman Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) and redshirt sophomore Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) set new career marks in scoring with 19 and 24 points, respectively, to help lead the Drake University women's basketball team past Eastern Washington, 93-78, Thursday, Dec. 22 in the consolation game of the Tulane Classic.
 
Drake (7-4) finished at 56.3 percent shooting from the floor and scored 34 points off turnovers by Eastern Washington (5-6).
 
Senior Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) filled the stat sheet with 18 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals in 25 minutes. Sophomore Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) added 10 points, six steals to tie her career-high, four rebounds and four assists. Hittner just missed her second career double-double with nine rebounds to go with four assists and two steals.
 
Eastern Washington came out of halftime on a 13-2 scoring run to pull within three points at 46-43 and forced a timeout by Drake at the 7:38 mark. The Bulldogs regrouped after the timeout to build a bigger lead as they led 71-61 at the end of the third quarter. Jonas scored nine points in the period while Bachrodt, Hittner and Wendell all had six points each.
 
The Eagles would get as close as nine points in the fourth quarter, but freshman Brenni Rose (Shawnee, Kan.) made a pair of free throws and Hittner a layup to go back up by double figures as Drake pulled away for the win in the first-ever meeting between the teams.
 
Late in the first quarter, senior Cortni Rush (Mason City, Iowa) had a chance at a three-point play but missed the free throw attempt. However, the bucket by Rush put the Bulldogs up 15 points at 25-10. A run by the Eagles cut their deficit to 27-16 at the end of the first.
 
After shooting a smoldering 70.6 percent in the first quarter, Drake slipped to just 38.9 percent in the second quarter. The Bulldogs made a pair of three-pointers to help take a 44-30 halftime lead. Hittner and Jonas each scored 11 points in the opening two quarters. Drake shot 57.9 and 56.3 percent from the field in the third and fourth quarter.
 
After taking a break for the holidays, Drake will begin Missouri Valley Conference action at Wichita State on Dec. 30. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the contest will be shown online via The Valley On ESPN3.