DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team is excited to host Waldorf University Thursday morning at 11 a.m. in the seventh annual "Pack the Knapp Game" hosted by The Robert D. and Billie Ray Center at Drake University. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and on the on radio on 1350 AM ESPN Des Moines.
 
This year's game is sold out and will feature several thousand local elementary and middle school students for a fun-filled school trip of Bulldogs' basketball, educational and character development activities inside the Knapp Center.
 
After dropping its first game of the Gulf Coast Showcase to Purdue last week, Drake (6-2)
bounced back with a 94-62 blowout victory over Maine and an exciting 83-82 win over Auburn in the fifth-place championship game. The pair of victories also marked the first time the Bulldogs defeated the Black Bears and the Tigers in three meetings against each.
 
Drake's bench played well in Estero, Fla. The reserves tallied 17 points against the Boilermakers, 34 against the Black Bears and finally 27 against the Tigers. Three Bulldog' reserves, Maggie Bair, Sarah Beth Gueldner and Maggie Negaard, set career-highs in points. Bair and Gueldner scored 13 and nine points, respectively, in the Maine win and Negaard scored 15 in the Auburn win. Gueldner knocked down a career-high three three-pointers against the Blackbears and a huge three in the comeback win over Auburn. Negaard scored seven points in an 11-0 Bulldogs' run that erased an 11-point, third-quarter deficit.
 
Waldorf (2-4), which is located in Forest City, Iowa, is a NAIA program that is a member of the North Star Athletic Association. Thursday's contest will count as an exhibition for the Warriors, who last played at North Central College Nov. 22. Junior Tina Lair-VanMeter averages a double-double at 13.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.
 
Following Thursday's game, Drake will take a break for final exams and return to action Dec. 17 at Oklahoma.