DES MOINES, Iowa – A big second half enabled the Drake women's basketball team to overcome a 43-point performance by Murray State's Katelyn Young and beat the Racers 80-67 at the Knapp Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
The 43 points were the most by a Missouri Valley Conference player this season, but Drake (8-4, 3-1) countered with balanced scoring and a quick-handed defense that produced a season-high 13 steals and led to a 26-14 margin in points off turnovers.
 
Maggie Bair and Sarah Beth Gueldner scored 18 points each to lead the Bulldogs, who shot 61.3 percent in the second half (19-for-31) and outscored Murray State (9-4, 2-2) 49-35 over the final two quarters.
 
Bair worked inside to convert 9-of-13 shots, grabbed 12 rebounds to match her season high, handed out four assists and made three steals.  It was her fifth double-double this season and the 12^th of her career.
 
Grace Berg scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half and added six rebounds, three assists and three steals. The graduated senior missed seven of her first eight shots but came through down the stretch by making her final three shots, including a pair of 3-pointers. That leaves her with 999 points in her Drake career.
 
Taylor McAulay matched Berg's stat line with 12 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Katie Dinnebier contributed eight points and seven assists. McAulay scored after all three of her steals, taking two the length of the court for layups and sinking two free throws when she was fouled after the third theft.
The victory capped a perfect Hometown Team Weekend for the Bulldog programs. The women beat Belmont 94-63 on Friday night and the men followed with an 82-64 victory over Murray State on Saturday night.
 
The women's latest victory wasn't as easy as the final score might indicate, mainly because of Young, a 6-foot junior who was unstoppable for much of the game. Young scored 28 of Murray State's first 29 points and finished 19 of 25 from the field with two 3-pointers.
 
The 19 field goals are the most in NCAA Division I this season and her 43 points are the second-most in a D-I game. That total ranks No. 11 on the MVC's all-time list.
 
No other Murray State player made a basket until Bria Sanders-Wood converted a three-point play off a driving layup with 1:38 left in the first half, giving the Racers a 32-28 lead. Ashley Iiams' 3-pointer in the final minute half left Drake trailing 32-31 at the break.
 
The Bulldogs shot just 38.7 percent in the first half and were outrebounded 23-17. But they turned things around in a big way in the final two quarters.
A 10-3 run that included 3s from Gueldner and McAulay pulled Drake into a 47-42 lead and the Bulldogs led 49-43 when Bair fed Courtney Becker for a reverse layup. Murray State answered with seven straight points to go up 50-49, but that was the last time the Racers would lead.
 
McAulay stole the ball and took it in for a layup, then fed Bair for a layup before Berg buried a corner 3 for a 56-50 lead heading into the fourth quarter. Leading 68-61, the Bulldogs put it out of reach with a 9-0 burst that Gueldner started with a 3 on a feed from Dinnebier and McAulay capped with the two free throws after her third steal. Gueldner also had a steal and layup in that stretch, which put the Bulldogs up 79-63 with 3:21 left.
 
Drake shot 50 percent for the game and reached 80 points for the 10^th time this season.
 
"We showed a lot of resilience today…came out [of halftime], had some people hit some big shots and were able to build our lead," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman stated. "We did a nice job of speeding them up just enough, pressuring the basketball just enough. I would've liked us to do a better job on the glass…credit our ability to wear people out and tire them out, it becomes mentally taxing. Hats off to our tem, they did a great job, that was fun."
 
The Bulldogs will conclude a three-game homestand by hosting Northern Iowa at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
 
 
TEAM NOTES

• Drake improved its record to 8-4, including a 3-1 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Drake is 5-1 at home this season.
• The Bulldogs won their fifth straight Missouri Valley Conference home game dating back to last season.
• This marked the 10th time in 12 games Drake has scored 80-plus points
• Drake recorded a season-high 11 steals
• Drake improved to 9-1 when scoring 80 or more points this season.
• Drake shot 50 percent (31-62), improving its record to 4-1 when shooting 50 percent or better. 
• Drake collected 10 offensive rebounds, marking the seventh time Drake has collected 10 or more offensive rebounds in a game.
• Drake is 3-1 in Sunday games this season.
• Maggie Bair collected her 12th career double-double (fifth this season) with 18 points, while tying a season high for the third time with 12 rebounds.
• Senior guard Sara Beth Gueldner, coming off a career-high 23 points against Belmont Friday, also had a team-high 18 points including 13 in the second half. 
• Gueldner made a game-high four three-point baskets, giving her 11 treys in her last two games.
• Redshirt senior forward Grace Berg and redshirt sophomore Taylor McAulay added 12 points apiece.
• Berg has now scored 999 points in her Drake career.
• Sophomore guard Katie Dinnebier collected a game-high seven assists, marking the seventh time she has dished out six or more assists in a game this season. 
• This was the first meeting between the schools.

 
Katelyn Young of Murray State scored 43 points against Drake which

• ranks as the most in the Missouri Valley Conference this season
• is second highest single-game point total in a NCAA Division I women's basketball game this season trailing 45 by Caitlin Clark of Iowa and Aneesah Morrow of DePaul
• ranks No. 11 on the all-time MVC single-game scoring list
• Young's 19 field goals are a NCAA single game high this season, bettering the previous mark of 18 by DePaul's Anessah Morrow, while ranking No. 5 on the all-time MVC single-game list.