CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Drake University women's basketball team defeated Southern Illinois, 71-64, on Saturday afternoon at SIU Arena in the final regular season game.
Drake improved to 21-8 and 14-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference with the hard-fought win over a tough SIU (19-11, 12-6 MVC) squad. The Bulldogs clinched the No. 2 seed at next week's MVC Tournament, held March 10-13 at the iWireless Center in Moline, Ill.
"Today was a gut check for us because I thought a lot of things went really well and some things didn't," said Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk. "Southern is a tough, great team and playing on their Senior Day with their senior class we knew it was going to be a tough task for us."
Sophomore Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to record her seventh double-double of the season and the 15th of her career. Junior Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) finished with a double-double of her own with 11 points and 11 assists. Freshman Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) scored 11 second-half points after being held scoreless in the first two quarters while junior Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) added 10 points.
Drake claimed an early 4-1 lead after freshman Nicole Miller's (Walker, Iowa) jumper at the 6:59 mark of the opening quarter. SIU answered with a 6-0 run to take the lead at 7-4, but it would be the final lead of the day for the Salukis as Miller answered with another key jumper and Ingle followed with a layup to give Drake the lead back at 8-7.
Drake would later build a 10-point lead with just under two minutes left in the third quarter. However, a resilient SIU team ripped off an 8-0 scoring run that lasted 5:30 and cut the deficit to one-point before Rhine stopped the run with a huge basket for the Bulldogs to go back in front by three points, 57-54. Wendell and Dean then added layups as the Bulldogs stretched their lead to seven points to hold off the Salukis for the win.
The Bulldogs led 12-9 after the first quarter and had a 35-28 halftime lead as sophomore Paige Greiner (Williamsburg, Iowa) made a huge three-pointer with just eight seconds to go before the break.
Miller finished the game with seven key points while fellow freshman Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) and Greiner each scored six points. Drake had 40 points in the paint and finsihed with 24 bench points.
Drake will play the winner of the opening round game between seventh-seeded Illinois State and No. 10 seed Evansville that will be played on March 10. Drake's game will be Friday, March 11 at 6 p.m. and will broadcast via The Valley On ESPN3.
