EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Drake freshman Anna Becker provided the final lift as Drake nearly stumbled in an up-and-down road affair at Evansville on Thursday night. The Bulldogs had just enough to scrounge up a go-ahead bucket before a defensive stop capped an 87-85 thriller over the Purple Aces.
 
Maggie Taylor won the opening tip, which was corralled by Ava Hawthorne who sliced right to the rim for the game's first score just six seconds in. Evansville was able to answer on the other end, which they did every time the Bulldogs (9-18, 8-9) inched in front during the opening period, as the matchup settled into an early back-and-forth pace.
 
Evansville, which shot 65 percent over the first 10 minutes, was able to build a 26-18 advantage with just over two minutes left in the first as Drake went without a field goal for over four minutes. Grace Knutson finally snapped that spell as the ticker wound under 60 seconds.
 
The Purple Aces (7-21, 5-12) took a 29-22 lead into the quarter break.
 
Drake began to chip away at the Aces' lead as Brooklin Dailey swished in a 3-pointer from the wing and Ava Hawthorne executed a 3-point play the old-fashioned way. Lexi Carlsen later joined the party with a triple of her own, getting the Bulldogs back within a point.
 
The Dogs jumped back in front as they passed the halfway point of the period when Maggie Taylor took advantage of an offensive mismatch and backed a UE defender to the block for two.
 
Drake maintained its energetic effort throughout the second quarter, eventually heading to the locker room with a 49-43 halftime lead.
 
The Bulldogs took no time extending their lead into double figures as the second half got underway. Anna Becker drove down the lane line and banked one in off glass to move the margin to 10 points in favor of the visitors. Abbie Aalsma kept the Dogs rolling with a transition trey, extending Drake's run to 9-0 in the third and forcing Evansville head coach Robyn Scherr to spend a timeout.
 
Cedar Rapids, Iowa native Sydney Huber, a UE freshman, finally got the Aces on the board in the second half with a corner three. Evansville got back within nine after a near and-one, but Carlsen retaliated with another deuce on Drake's end of the floor.
 
The host Aces managed a late charge toward the end of the third quarter, holding Drake scoreless for just over two minutes, but the Bulldogs still led 66-58 with 10 minutes to play.
 
Drake held on to its respectable margin for much of the final stanza, but Evansville refused to go away quietly. The Purple Aces leaned on star sophomore Camryn Runner, who surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career with a 36-point effort in Thursday's game, to crawl closer to the Bulldogs. Runner hit a pair of free throws to get within five before a Kylee Norkus floater got the score within a possession.
 
Norkus then went to the charity stripe, after Drake's Brooklin Dailey committed her fifth foul of the night, and split a pair of freebies to add to UE's 9-0 spurt. But senior guard Hawthorne dialed up a deep ball to stop the bleeding.
 
Things got even tighter in the final minute as Anna Becker was flagged for a traveling violation, leading to two more Runner tallies. Evansville then sent Hawthorne to the line after fouling to extend the game. The Drake senior was nails, hitting nothing but net on both attempts to maintain a 3-point lead.
 
Scherr called a timeout to advance the ball into Evansville's half, which proved to be a wise decision as Runner knocked down a clutch trey from the top of the key to knot the score at 85-all.
 
Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman took her turn signaling for a T.O., giving Drake a shot to take the lead. Becker received the inbound on the wing and immediately turned to drive. The standout rookie absorbed contact and finished in the paint to nudge the Bulldogs back in front.
 
The Purple Aces again took a breather and drew up a potential game-winning play. Appropriately, Runner got the inbound before dishing it away. She found her way back to the ball after traversing around a couple screens, but Aalsma and the Drake defense came up with the stop, securing the 87-75 result.
 
"Our resilience showed up again today," Pohlman said. "You're always frustrated by a couple things…we needed to stop fouling sand I saw a glimmer of hesitation from us in the early fourth quarter. But then we flipped the switch and drew a line in the sand and got stops when we needed to get stops, came up with some amazing scores down the stretch. Really proud of our tenacity."
 
Abbie Aalsma led Drake with 24 points while dishing out six assists. Ava Hawthorne also had a half dozen distributions to go along with 18 points.
 
Anna Becker was Drake's only other double-digit scorer with 17. She added three rebounds and two assists.
 
Lexi Carlsen and Maggie Taylor each led Drake in a statistical category with eight assists and eight rebounds, respectively.
 
The Bulldogs will remain away from home for their penultimate road tilt at Southern Illinois on Saturday. Drake and SIU will tip things off in the Banterra Center at 2 p.m.
 
 
Notes

• Drake's win improved its records to 9-18 overall and 8-9 in conference play.
• The Bulldogs have won three of their last four games.
• Drake is now 5-6 away from home.
• Drake shot 45.7 percent (32-70) from the field and 29.2 percent (7-24) from 3-point range.
• There were eight ties and four lead changes in the game.
• Drake outrebounded UE, 40-30.
• Abbie Aalsma led Drake with 24 points while dishing out six assists.
• Ava Hawthorne also had a half dozen distributions to go along with 18 points.
• Anna Becker was Drake's only other double-digit scorer with 17. She added three rebounds and two assists.
• Lexi Carlsen and Maggie Taylor each led Drake in a statistical category with eight assists and eight rebounds, respectively.
• Carlsen also posted seven rebounds, tying her season high.
• Drake now leads the series with Evansville by a 56-14 margin.
• The Bulldogs have won their last 21 games against the Purple Aces.