Carla Bennett had 20 points and Maureen Head added 14 to lead Drake to a 68-59 win over Illinois State Friday at the Knapp Center in a Missouri Valley Conference womens basketball game.
Kellie Johnson, who hit her first six shots--four of them three-pointers--led the Redbirds, 4-17, 2-10, with 16 points.
Kristi Larson had 12 and
Steph Reichle added 11 while
Nadia Peruch collected a career-high eight assists.
An Iowa blizzard forced last-minute changes in the Redbird travel plans. What was scheduled to be a one-hour flight to Des Moines departing at 10:30 a.m. became a six hour, 30 minute bus trip arriving after 2:30 p.m., past the scheduled time for shooting practice at the Knapp Center.
ISU started the game hitting 7 of 11 from the field including Johnsons perfection on two jumpers and two treys. The Birds led 17-11 with 13:24 left when Drake got rolling starting with Stephanie Schmitzs jumper, which opened a 15-4 run which put Drake ahead 26-21 with 8:37 left in the half.
The Birds went back ahead 27-26 on back-to-back threes by
Taren O'Brien and Johnson. A
DJ Flournoy rebound basket put the Birds up 29-26, but Drake stormed back with seven unanswered points to take a 33-29 lead into the final two minutes. The Bulldogs led 35-31 at the intermission and didnt give it up.
We did the best we could do with the travel situation, said
Jenny Yopp, whose team again lost the game on the free throw line as Drake hit 13 of 17 to ISUs 5 of 7 for the game. Our kids came out early with such tremendous enthusiasm at the start of the game.
As they have lately, ISU battled tough. It was a two-point game, 54-52 with 6:31 left. But Drake, 15-4, 10-1 in the Valley, pulled away with a 9-0 run and out-scored the Birds 12-5 to pull away. Drake had a 36-30 rebounding edge and out-shot the Birds 57.1 to 35.7 in the second half. The Birds got just two points total from its leading scorers,
Sharon Blade and
Jaci McCormack.
I think we lost our legs down the stretch, said Yopp. Drake took it to us and I think fatigue set in.
ISUs effort impressed Drake coach Lisa Stone, whose team has won eight in a row, its longest winning streak in three years.
Illinois State has a very good young team that wasnt fazed by a seven-hour bus ride, said Stone. They made (No. 13) Southwest Missouri State work as hard to beat them as we had to work tonight. They have outstanding young freshmen and will continue become better.
After their hot start, the Birds settled down to 13-27 from the field in the first half, but ISU never made it to the free throw line and Drake, shooting just 41 percent, never made it to the free throw line.
Bennett and Head scored the first two baskets in the second half and kept at least a four-point lead for the first 12 minutes of the second half. Drake led 54-49 when
Shandeen Hunt buried a three-pointer to cut the lead to two. Erin Richards hit a baseline shot to extend the lead to four again, but Reichle put back an offensive rebound with 6:31 left. After a defensive stop, Reichle missed a three-pointer to give ISU the lead.
Bennett took a lob pass to the basket to raise the lead to four at 5:17 ISU didnt score again until Drake had built its biggest lead 65-54.
The Birds play Sunday at Creighton, a 65-57 winner over Indiana State Friday.
