Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012
DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake women's basketball squad fell to Missouri State
69-66 on Thursday to suffer only the Bulldogs third home loss of the campaign.
Drake falls to 11-10 on
the season and 5-5 and league play, while Missouri State improved to 14-6 and
7-3 in the Missouri Valley Conference. This also marks the third-straight loss
for the Bulldogs by five or less points.
In a battle between two
Jackie Stiles Player Of The Year candidates in Drake senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) and Missouri State's Casey Garrison,
Hackbarth had the upper hand scoring 28 points and grabbing10 rebounds to post her 14th double-double of
the season. Garrison scored 16 points
for the Lady Bears and added five assists.
Hackbarth has collected
double-doubles in seven straight games, but she fouled out with 2:14 left in
regulation.
"The kids played hard,
and I'm proud of the way we competed," commented head coach Amy Stephens. "We should some resiliency, especially in the
second half. We played through some adversity as Rachael picked up a few fouls
in the second half."
The Bulldogs turned the
ball over 19 times compared to 11 miscues by Missouri State. However, the Lady Bears capitalized on the Drake turnovers generating 22 points off those
said miscues.
Freshman Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) scored 13
points and was three-for-seven from three-point land. Senior Amber Wollschlager (Milbanks, S.D.)
added 10 points and was a perfect 4-4 from the line.
In the first half, the
Bulldogs led 31-28 thanks to Hackbarth's 19 points. She tallied 15 straight
points for Drake.
The second half began
with the Bulldogs jumping out to an eight-point lead, 37-29, with 17:47 left in
regulation. The Lady Bears followed with a 15-1 run to erase the deficit and gain a 46-40 lead
with 12:36 to go.
Drake tied the ball game
at 54 thanks to a Clark three-pointer with 5:31 on the clock.
The Bulldogs took
a two-point lead at the four-minute mark thanks to a pair of Hackbarth
free-throws. That marked the last Bulldog lead as Casey Garrison nailed a
jumper to tie the score at 59 and Christina Shorter's lay in with 2:50 left
gave Missouri State the lead for good.
Garrison and Shorter led
the Lady Bears with 16 points each, while Karly Buer added 15.
Drake wraps up its
four-game homestand as league-leading Wichita State comes into town on
Saturday, Feb. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Following the game, an
alumni game will take place.
