THE SERIES UNDER HEAD COACH AMY STEPHENS
This is the first meeting between Drake and Minnesota-Duluth in either the exhibition season or the regular season.

PREVIEWING THE MINNESOTA-DULUTH BULLDOGS
Minnesota-Duluth opens the 2008 exhibition with the Bulldogs before traveling to Davenport to face St. Ambrose in an exhibition game Friday (Nov. 7). Minnesota-Duluth finished last season with a 4-23 overall record, including a 1-11 mark in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Bulldogs return two starters from a year ago, including sophomore forward Kelsey Hewitt and senior guard Stephanie Reiter. Hewitt averaged 7.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last season. While Reiter tallied 5.5 points and 1.7 rebounds per game last season.

LAST TIME OUT
Senior Lauren Dybing (Bloomington, Minn./St. Croix Lutheran) scored a team-high 23 points, including 12 in the second half, as Drake held off Quincy, 67-62, in its exhibition opener last Saturday (Nov. 1) at the Drake Knapp Center.

Dybing also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds, while collecting five steals and three blocked shots.

Two free throws by Dybing with 2:32 left gave Drake a 64-53 lead. But Quincy outscored Drake, 9-3, down the stretch.

The score was tied 12 times with the lead changing hands five times.

Layups by Dybing and junior redshirt Jordann Plummer (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) gave Drake a 54-50 lead it would never relinquish.

Plummer finished with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists.

The Bulldogs dominated the glass to overcome 35 percent shooting from the field.

Drake outrebounded Quincy, 55-34, scoring 15 second-chance points.

Stephens praised the play of freshman guard Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn./Eastview) who came off the bench to collect eight points, including six in the second half.

Junior forward Monique' Jones (Lee's Summit, Mo./Lee's Summit North) and senior Ashleigh Brady (Lubbock, Texas/Frenship) added seven points apiece.

Jones grabbed nine rebounds, while senior forward Kelsey Keizer (Arnolds Park, Iowa/Okoboji) added seven boards.

Janette Burgin led Quincy with 23 points.

WELCOME HOME
Minnesota-Duluth graduate assistant coach Linda Sayavongchanh,a four-year letter winner with Drake women's basketball, returns home this evening.

Sayavongchanh also spent the 2006-2007 season as an assistant coach with the Drake Bulldogs.

During her four-year playing career with Drake (2002-06), Sayavongchanh received All-Missouri Valley Conference honorable mention and MVC All-Defensive Team recognition on three occasions and was an MVC All-Tournament team selection in 2004. As a senior, she helped lead Drake to a 17-12 overall record and a berth in the WNIT Tournament while averaging 9.2 points per game.

A three-time MVC Scholar-Athlete selection, Sayavongchanh still holds the Drake single-season record for steals with 105 in 31 games as a sophomore in 2003-04. For her career, she racked up 266 steals, which placed her second on the Bulldogs' all-time list and 379 assists, the ninth highest figure in team history.

The Des Moines, Iowa, native graduated from Drake in the spring of 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education with concentrations in mathematics and coaching. Sayavongchanh is pursuing a Master's degree in education at UMD.

EXHIBITION DOMINATION
The Drake women's basketball team, under head coach Amy Stephens, is 10-0 in exhibition games. The Bulldogs have a 6-0 record against Quincy, a 2-0 mark against Johnson Financial and a 2-0 mark against Nebraska-Kearney since the 2003-04 season.

SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS
Drake faces a formidable 29-game schedule with tests against nine squads that advanced to postseason play last season, including four which qualified for the NCAA Tournament.

The 2008-09 ledger is highlighted by 14 games in the Knapp Center, where Drake went 13-3 a year ago to push its overall record in the facility to 158-45 (.778), including 56-22 (.718) under Stephens.

The Bulldogs will tip off their 35th intercollegiate season on Nov. 14 playing host to 2008 Women's National Invitation Tournament participant Texas State.

Then there is a treacherous three-game road swing starting with a trip to Wisconsin for contests at WNIT participants Wisconsin Nov. 20 and Green Bay Nov. 22 followed by a Nov. 25 meeting at Tennessee Tech.

It will mark the first meeting between Drake and the Badgers since the Bulldogs handed Wisconsin a 59-54 setback during the 2002-03 campaign. Drake renews acquaintances with the Phoenix after splitting a pair of contests last season.

Returning home, Drake plays a pair of first-time opponents in Columbia Nov. 29 and 2008 NCAA Tournament participant Coppin State Dec. 2.

The Bulldogs then complete a home-and-home series with a visit to Weber State Dec. 6, before visiting in-state rival Iowa State Dec. 11, also a participant in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Drake closes out the calendar year welcoming Iowa, which also competed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, into the Knapp Center on Dec. 20, before traveling to face Chicago State Dec. 22, for the first time since the 1989-90 campaign.

“The non-conference schedule is good for our team to get ready for the Missouri Valley Conference season,” said Stephens. “We have a good mix of strong teams, including three schools which played in the NCAA Tournament last year.

“We have a challenging road swing right away, traveling to Wisconsin and playing Tennessee Tech which has a solid program. Coppin State is very athletic and played Maryland within 15 points (80-66) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.”

The MVC schedule features six games against teams, which advanced to post-season play in 2008.

Drake opens the MVC portion of its schedule with a Jan. 1 tilt at Indiana State before tangling with Illinois State, the 2008 MVC Tournament champion, Jan. 3.

The Bulldogs also will play four conference games against Creighton and Evansville which both played in the 2008 WNIT.

The Bulldogs will look to capture their 11th NCAA tournament berth at the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Women's Basketball Championship, hosted at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. March 12-15.

DRAKE HEAD COACH
Amy Stephens is entering her sixth campaign as head women's basketball coach at Drake University after guiding the Bulldogs last season to a 23-11 mark and the program's first regular season Missouri Valley Conference title since the 2000-01 campaign.

In her first five campaigns, she boasts an NCAA Tournament appearance, a trio of WNIT berths and an 84-72 overall (.538) record.

Last season her squad was selected, for the second straight year, as the preseason favorite to win the MVC, Drake surpassed the 20-win plateau for the first time since registering 25 victories during the 2001-02 campaign. The Bulldogs advanced to the title game of the MVC Tournament for the second consecutive season before falling to Illinois State, 70-62. Drake garnered its initial postseason tournament victory in six years with a 65-56 triumph over Green Bay in the opening round of the Women's NIT.

Seniors Jill Martin and Lindsay Whorton were recognized for their efforts on and off the court as they were each selected as first team All-MVC performers, making Drake the only league school with two first-team selections. Martin was named a first-team honoree for the third time, while it marked Whorton's initial listing on the league's top team.

Off the court, the duo was tabbed to the MVC Scholar-Athlete first team, while Whorton was honored as the MVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Whorton's academic prowess was rewarded on a national stage as she was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America first team.

FASTBREAK LUNCHES
Drake will once again provide a unique glimpse into Bulldog women's basketball with the monthly Fastbreak Luncheons. The events will be held at Christopher's in Beaverdale from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 9, Jan. 6 and Feb. 3.

UP NEXT
Drake then opens its 35th season of intercollegiate basketball as the Bulldogs host Texas State in the Knapp Center Nov. 14. Drake's 2008 MVC Championship banner and WNIT Participation banner will be unveiled prior to the evening's action.