DES MOINES, Iowa - Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.)
scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds on Sunday but the Drake Bulldogs lost
to the Illinois State Redbirds, 66-51,in the Hoops 4 Hope game at the Knapp
Center in front of a season-high 3,231fans.
Hackbarth had her 12th consecutive double-double and 19th
overall, but it wasn't enough to overcome poor shooting in the second half
against ISU.
Sophomore
Morgan Reid (North Kansas City, Mo.)
added 11 points and five rebounds for Drake.
Carly Grenfell (York, Neb.)
chipped in eight points and Kyndal Clark
(Webb City, Mo.) scored six points.
The
Bulldogs wore special pink jerseys that were auctioned off along with
autographed pink basketballs after the game and all the proceeds are going to
the American Cancer Society. A large
group of cancer survivors were recognized at halftime and special presentations
were done at media timeouts throughout the game.
Drake
(13-13, 7-8 MVC) took a 37-32 halftime lead with strong shooting from the field
and the free-throw line but Illinois State opened the second period on a 12-2
run to overtake the Bulldogs.
Katie
Broadway was the leading scorer for Illinois State (15-10, 10-4 MVC) with 20
points and Jamie Russell added 18 points.
"Back-to-back
turnovers and a missed layup to start the second half hurt us," Drake head
coach Amy Stephens said. "We had poor shot selection with settling for long
jumpers. Still though we had some other
good looks at the basket but just couldn't get them to go in."
Illinois
State used hot shooting to overtake Drake as the Redbirds shot 56 percent
(15-of-27) from the field in the second half.
Drake struggled as they only hit five shots in the period.
A
pair of freshman, Clark and Grenfell, scored four points and six points
respectively to help the Bulldogs jump out to a 15-9 lead to start the game. Clark and Grenfell were joined by Liza Heap (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) in
the starting lineup along with sophomore Reid and Hackbarth as the Bulldogs
went young on Sunday.
"We
have struggled this season to sustain the effort from Friday games to Sunday
games with our youth," Stephens said. "Our young players are getting experience
and hopefully it will pay off."
At halftime,
the Don Adams Spirit of Drake Award was given to Heather Weems, Drake Associate
Athletic Director and Senior Woman Administrator, and Tom Westbrook, Ph.D.
Professor of Adult Learning and Organizational Performance in
the school of education. The award is named for the former Drake University
vice-president.
Drake hits the road for its next two games with a trip to Bradley on Friday,
Feb. 24 and a matchup against Northern Iowa on Sunday, Feb. 26.
