Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012

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THIS WEEK: The Drake women's basketball squad looks to end its three game losing skid when when the Bulldogs hit the road this weekend for tilts against Southern Illinois and Evansville. Drake will face off against Southern Illinois on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7:05 p.m. in Carbondale, Ill., while its contest against Evansville is set for Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2:05 p.m. in Evansville, Ind.  The Bulldog's matchup against the Purple Aces will be carried by ESPN 3 as Scott Warmann and Laura Leonord will have the call. 

QUICKLY:

• Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) leads the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring (19.5 ppg), rebounding (10.8 rpg), double-doubles (15) and field-goal percentage.
• Nationally, Hackbarth's 15 double-doubles is second, her 19.5 points per game ranks 20th, her 10.8 rebounds per game ranks 14th and her .536 shooting percantage is 19th.
• Hackbarth passed Kristin Turk (2007-11) for 15th-place on the all-time Drake scoring list with her first bucket against Missouri State. Hackbarth has 1,449 points in her Drake career, while Turk tallied 1,405.
• Hackbarth has a streak of eight consecutive double-doubles and has tallied 15 this season. Nationally speaking, Hackbarth trails only Kylie Kuhns of Sacramento State in that category, as Kuhns has collected 17 double-doubles this campaign.
• Drake ranks first in the MVC in rebounding margin with a +5.7 mark, which ranks 38th nationally.
• The Blue and White sport the league's best three-point defense (.269) and the 45th best three-point defense in the nation.
• Southern Illinois comes into the contest with a two-game losing streak after road losses to UNI (73-51) and Bradley (66-50).
• The Salukis are led by Teri Oliver who averages 17.1 points per game, and Cartaesha Macklin, who scores 16 points per contest. Those two are the third-and fifth-best scorers, respectively, in the Valley.
• SIU leads the conference in blocked shots averaging 4.8 swats per outing.
• Freshman Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) has scored in double digits in each of her past four games. Clark ranks second among MVC freshman with a 9.8 scoring average.
• Senior Amber Wollschlager (Milbanks, S.D.) has scored in double digits in seven of her past 10 games.
• Junior Stephanie Running (Oak Creek, Wis.) made the most of her two starts last weekend averaging 8.5 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per contest.
• Head Coach Amy Stephens carries a 14-4 record against Southern Illinois, her best record against any MVC opponent. Drake has won six of its past seven meetings against SIU.

LAST OUTING (2/2/12): Wichita State 74, at Drake 56: Drake dropped a 74-56 decision to league-leading Wichita State on Saturday, February 4 in the Knapp Center.

Turnovers ultimately doomed the Bulldogs as they committed 18 turnovers compared to Wichita State's 11. The Shockers capitalized off those Drake miscues scoring 21 points.

Senior Rachael Hackbarth extended her double-double streak to eight games registering a 17-point, 12-rebound performance while adding five assists on the day.  Hackbarth logged 38 minutes in the contest, equaling a career high.

Freshman Kyndal Clark scored 11 points, while junior Stephanie Running added 10 points and four rebounds.

The game started off as a back-and-forth affair with the Bulldogs and Shockers trading leads early on. 

Drake held a 23-21 lead with 5:40 left in the first stanza thanks to a Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn.) layup. Wichita State went on a 16-5 run to close out the half to make it a 37-28 contest in favor of the Shockers.

In the second half, the Shockers extended their lead to as many as 23 points. Overall, Wichita State went on a 53-23 run to close the game after the Bulldogs last led with 5:40 left in the first half.

ABOUT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: The Salukis enter their duel with the Bulldogs with a 6-16 overall record and a 2-9 conference ledger. Southern Illinois has attempted the most three-point shots in the MVC this season with 441, and have made the second-most treys in the league with 141. 

Southern Illinois sports two of the top scorers in the conference with Teri Oliver and Cartaesha Macklin. Oliver's 17.1 points per game is third-best in the league, while Macklin's 16 points is fifth. Oliver leads the conference averaging 3.0 three-pointers per contest, and her .376 three-point shooting clip is eighth in the league. Macklin paces the Salukis averaging 3.7 assists, which is third in the league and she has won the Valley's Newcomer Of The Week Award twice this campaign.

Southern Illinois is coached by Missy Tiber, who has a 13-68 record at the helm of the Saluki program.

DRAKE VS. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS: The Bulldogs lead the series against the Salukis by a 48-24 margin. Drake has won the past four tilts against Southern Illinois including a series sweep a year ago. In Carbondale, the series is tied at 17 apiece, but Drake has captured three victories in the past four years at SIU Arena.

THE LAST TIME (1/12/12): at Drake 73,  Southern Illinois 59: A strong game from senior Rachael Hackbarth and a career night by sophomore Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo./North) propelled Drake to a 73-59 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Southern Illinois at the Knapp Center. 

Hackbarth tallied 25 points and pulled down 15 rebounds to lead all participants in both categories. The effort was Hackbarth's eighth double-double of the season while her rebound total helped Drake tie a season high with a plus-18 rebounding advantage (48-30).

Reid totaled a career-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added six rebounds and three steals in 30 minutes of action.

The Bulldogs were held scoreless for the first 4:35 of the second half while Southern Illinois put in nine unanswered points to grab a 38-35 lead at the first media time out. The Salukis extended their lead to a game-best six, 44-38, with 13:49 remaining in the game.

From the 13:49 mark onward, Drake outscored Southern Illinois 35-15 behind 12 points by Hackbarth and seven points apiece from Amber Wollschlager, Brittnye McSparron and Reid. McSparron and Wollschlager finished the game with 15 and 11 points, respectively.

The Bulldogs parlayed SIU's 17 team fouls into 17 points and outscored the Salukis 17-6 from the free throw line. Drake also turned a nine-rebound advantage on the offensive glass (18-9) into 22 second-chance points.

STINGY D: Drake now has the fourth-best scoring defense in the league allowing 61.9 points per game. This is in addition to the league-best three-point defense (.273).

BATTLE OF THE VALLEY'S BEST YOUTH: Southern Illinois' Cartesha Macklin and Drake's Kyndal Clark are two of the best freshmen in the conference. Macklin averages 16 points per game, which leads all freshmen and is fifth best among all conference players. Clark's 9.8 points per contest is the second-best scoring output by Valley freshmen.  

LIGHTING IT UP: Thursday's game will also feature three of the top-five scorers in the MVC. Drake's Rachael Hackbarth leads the leage with 19.5 points per game, while Teri Oliver is third with 17.1 points per game, and Cartaesha Macklin is fifth with 16.0 points per contest.

SURE SHOOTERS: Although the Bulldogs have only made 77 three-pointers this year, which is the second lowest mark in the league, they are accurate as they average a .330 clip from the land of three, which is the fourth-best in the Valley.

HACKBARTH'S SUCCESS AGAINST SIU: In seven contests against the Salukis, Rachael Hackbarth has found success as Drake has gone 6-1 in those games. Hackbarth averages 16.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, and she pulled down a career high 18 rebounds in a 70-57 victory in Carbondale on Jan. 6, 2011. 

POW: Rachael Hackbarth was named MVC Player of the Week on Jan. 30. The award, her fifth of the season, puts the senior in elite company in MVC history. Hackbarth becomes just the fifth player in Valley history to earn five or more Player of the Week awards in a single season. She joins former Bulldog Wanda Ford (1985-86 - five awards) on the list.

Hackbarth led the Bulldogs to 77-62 victory on Friday (Jan. 27) against Bradley with a 22-point, 13-rebound performance.

In an 82-77 overtime setback against UNI on Sunday (Jan. 29), Hackbarth added 22 points, 10 rebounds, while also equaling a career-high with five assists. 

For the week, Hackbarth totaled 44 points and 23 rebounds in two games, while connecting on 75 percent of her attempts (18-of-24) from the floor.

RARE AIR: Rachael Hackbarth currently leads the league in both scoring (19.3) and rebounding (10.8), a feat that has only been accomplished three times before in MVC history.

If Hackbarth fi nishes the season at the top of both categories, she will join Southern Illinois' Amy Rakers (20.7 ppg, 10.5 rpg in 1989-90) and former Bulldog Wanda Ford (30.6 ppg, 16.9 rpg in 1985-86 and 24.2 ppg, 17.8 rpg in 1984-85).

UP ON JENSEN: Senior Rachael Hackbarth passed Jan Jensen (1987-91) for sole possession of eighth place on the all-time Drake rebounding list against Bradley. Hackbarth, with 789 career rebounds, looks up at Tricia Wakely (1992-96) in seventh place with 903 career boards. 

MOVING UP THE CHARTS: Senior Rachael Hackbarth passed Missy Lange (1993-97) against Indiana State on the all-time blocks leaderboard at Drake to claim fifth-place. Hackbarth now has 95 career blocks.

60 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: When the Bulldogs score 60 points or more in a contest, they sport a 9-5 record, compared to a 2-6 mark when they fail to reach the 60 point plateau. Additionally, Drake is 10-1 this season in games in which they hold its opponent to 60 points or less. While Amy Stephens has been at the helm of the Bulldog program, Drake has a 95-22 record when they hold opponents to less than 60 points.

70 IS HARD TO BEAT: When the Bulldogs score more than 70 points they are a very hard team to be stopped as the Bulldogs have a 64-15 ledger when reaching the 70 point mark during head coach Amy Stephens' tenure. Drake is 3-1 this season when reaching the 70 point mark.