Drake Women's Basketball Returns Home to Face Bradley

By AJ Harrison, Drake Athletics Communications

DES MOINES, Iowa -- After playing five of its first seven conference games on the road, the Drake women’s basketball team begins a four-game homestand Friday against Bradley. Tip-off at the Knapp Center is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. On Sunday (Jan. 29), the Bulldogs will host the UNI Panthers in an in-state showdown as start time for the contest is set for 2:05 p.m.

DOLLAR DAY ON FRIDAY: The Drake women’s basketball game against Bradley on Friday, Jan. 27 will be a “Dollar Day”. All game tickets are $1, as well as hot dogs, popcorn and sodas for $1 each. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.

With this special “Dollar Days” opportunity, a family of four can enjoy an evening of entertainment and great Bulldogs basketball for just $16. That total includes four general admission tickets, four hot dogs, four servings of popcorn and 4 sodas.

Friday will also be "Pack The House" night as Drake will compete against other NCAA schools to set an attendance record. The goal of the event is to increase attendance and awareness of Drake Women's Basketball.

Festivities for the inaugural Girls and Women in Sports Day will take place prior to the game. The event honors the 40th anniversary of Title IX and the 26th annual girls and women in sports day. It is intended to introduce fun physical activities and beneficial information to girls in 5th to 8th grade. For more information contact Michelle Bigaouette at (515)-271-1946.

For the "Dollar Day" promotion, tickets must be purchased in person at the Knapp Center box office (Forest Avenue between 25th and 27th) either in advance or on game-night. For more information please call the Drake Ticket Office at (515)-271-DOGS (3647).

QUICKLY:

• Senior Rachael Hackbarth (Colgate, Wis.) leads the Valley in scoring (18.9 ppg) and rebounding (10.7 rpg). She is also tied for 26th in Division I for scoring and holds sole possession for 13th-place in rebounding.
• Hackbarth is 46-points shy of passing Kristin Turk (2007-11) for 15h-place on the all-time Drake scoring list. Hackbarth has 1,359 points in her Drake career, while Turk tallied 1,405.
• Hackbarth has a streak of four double-doubles and has tallied 11 this season, which is tied for the fifth-best mark in Division I.
• Drake ranks first in the MVC in rebounding margin (+5.9), which is good for 37th in the nation.
• Bradley comes into the contest following a 71-57 loss to the UNI Panthers• The Braves boost the second-highest offense in the Valley averaging 68.8 points per game and the second-best three point shooting percentage with a 35.2 clip.
• Brittnye McSparron (Apple Valley, Minn.) has scored in double figures in seven of her last eight games, including five-straight. McSparron tallied 18 points against Illinois State last weekend to tie a career high.
• Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo.) set a career high in rebounds against Indiana State last Sunday where she pulling in 11 boards and collecting her first career double double scoring 10 points, with six of them coming from the charity stripe.
• Amber Wollschlager (Milbanks, S.D.) is starting to heat up as she has four double-digit scoring outputs in her past six games. She tallied a season high 15 points at Illinois State.

LAST OUTING (1/22/12): Drake 67, at Indiana State 59: Led by senior Rachael Hackbarth‘s (Colgate, Wis.) career day, the Drake women’s basketball team rallied from an eight-point deficit to beat the Indiana State Sycamores by a count of 67-59 on Sunday (Jan. 22).

Hackbarth scored a career-best 32 points and tied a career high in blocks with four en route to powering the Bulldogs to victory.

During the contest, Hackbarth moved up the all-time scoring list at Drake passing both Jordann Plummer and Connie Newlin. Hackbarth now sits with 1,359 points. With her four blocks, she passed Missy Lange to move into fifth place with 91 swats. She also pulled down 12 boards to extend her double-double streak to four.

The Sycamores held a halftime lead of 31-28 over Drake as Brittany Shoen and Racheal Mahan combined for 19 of Indiana State’s 31 points.

Indiana State had its largest lead of the game after a three-pointer by Deja Mattox made it 49-41 in favor of the Sycamores with 10:52 left in regulation.

After that trey, Drake went on a 13-0 run in the second half as the Bulldogs took a 54-49 lead. The run stretched to the 5:16 mark in the second stanza. Hackbarth had nine of the 13 points including a jumper that gave Drake a 50-49 lead, its first lead since early on in the contest.

Sophomore Morgan Reid registered a double-double for the Bulldogs with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Brittnye McSparron added 10 points.

ABOUT BRADLEY: The Braves enter Friday’s contest with a 11-8 overall record and a 2-5 ledger in league play. Bradley was pegged to finish eighth in the Valley according to the preseason coaches’ poll.

Leah Kassing leads the Braves averaging 15.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. She also boasts the league’s best field goal percentage with a 55.7 clip. Katie Yohn is third in the MVC in three-point percentage at 43.5 percent and averages 12.6 points per contest. As a team, Bradley is second in the league in scoring averaging 68.8 points per game and leads the MVC in free throw shooting percentage with a 76.2 clip.

Bradley is coached by Paula Buscher, who is in her 12th year at the helm of the program, which makes her the dean of the Missouri Valley Conference coaches. She sports a 160-179 record during her tenure in Peoria.

DRAKE VS. BRADLEY: The Bulldogs lead the overall series with the Braves 45-14. Drake swept the season series a year ago winning in the Knapp Center 68-64, while claiming victory in Peoria by a score of 67-65.

THE LAST TIME (2/10/11: Drake 67, at Bradley 65):A furious second-half rally powered Drake to a thrilling 67-65 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Bradley Thursday night (Feb. 10) at Renaissance Coliseum. The win was Drake’s third-straight.

Bradley led by as many as 15 in the second half and held a 10-point, 61-51, lead with 3:45 left in the game. The Bulldogs rallied with a 15-1 run from 3:45 to 0:26, turning a 10-point deficit into a four-point, 66-62, lead with 26 seconds left.

Kayla Person scored six points during the run, including a pair of free throws at the back end, her 15th and career-high 16th points, to put Drake up four. Bradley sophomore Katie Yohn went the length of the floor and drained a three with 14 ticks left, cutting Drake’s lead to 66-65.

Senior Kristin Turk hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to two. Hanna Muegge missed her attempt at the buzzer to close Drake’s improbable comeback.

Person and Turk tied for the team lead with 16 points each, leading four Bulldogs in double figures. Then juniors Rachael Hackbarth and Amber Wollschlager totaled 15 and 10 points, respectively.

The Bulldogs were beaten on the boards, 40-30, including 13-6 on the offensive end. Drake escaped the first half behind by just one, 27-26, despite trailing 20-12 in the rebounds column, including 7-1 on the offensive glass. The win was Drake’s first of the season after trailing at halftime.

Drake hung around in the opening half with help from Person and Stephanie Running (Oak Creek, Wis.) who tallied eight and six points, respectively, to lead the Bulldogs.

Bradley emerged from the locker room and promptly executed a 13-5 run. The Braves outscored Drake 20-11 during the first eight minutes of the second half, building a double-digit lead, 47-37, by the 12-minute mark. Bradley built its lead to its highest point, 54-39 at the 9:27 mark, before Drake rallied.

BATTLE OF THE BOARDS: While the Bulldogs have the league’s best rebounding margin of +5.9 per game, the Braves are second with a margin of 4.7. Bradley does lead the league in total rebounds per game averaging 40.9, while Drake holds opponents to a league-low 32.7 boards per contest.

THREE-POINT SPECIALIST BARRAGE: Last weekend while on the road, Drake had to face four of the top-10 three-point shooters in the league in Illinois State’s Candance Skyes and Katie Broadway, along with Indiana State’s Deja Mattox and Anna Munn. The Bulldogs don’t receive a breather on Friday when they face two more of the top three-point specialists as Katie Yohn is ranked third in the league averaging 43.5 percent from beyond the arc, while Catie O’Leary is ninth with a 38.2 percent mark.