RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Strong Defense, Rebounding Spur Drake Women, 67-39


Drake's  women’s basketball team used a strong rebounding effort and tough defense to defeat Chicago Stat,e, 67-39 Sunday, in front of 1,939 fans at the Knapp Center.

The Bulldogs employed size and hustle to double up on the Cougars in rebounds, outworking them 58-29. Drake held Chicago State to 22.8 percent (13-of-57) shooting from the field. The mark is the fourth lowest percentage by an opposing team in the history of the program.

“I thought we attacked great at the beginning of the game,” Drake coach Jennie Baranczyk said. “We had a couple charges, but I’m okay with that as long as we’re attack the rim. We had an attack mentality today.”

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak and improved the Bulldogs to 2-4 overall. Chicago State is 1-5.

Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo.) scored 11 points and  and had 11 rebounds for Drake. Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo.) also had a strong game with 12 points and seven rebounds. Stephanie Running (Oak Creek, Wis.) chipped in with 10 points.

Alyssa Marschner (Plymouth, Minn.) tallied six points, eight assists, and eight rebounds. Carly Grenfell (York, Neb.), who entered the game shooting a blistering 61 percent from three-point range, continued her strong shooting, hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc against the Cougars.

“I thought Kyndal did a great job on the boards,” Baranczyk said. “What’s great about Kyndal is that we can play her at the one and the two. When we have her and Alyssa in at the same time we get a lot of really good looks.”

Drake jumped out to a 14-5 lead, capped by Liza Heap’s (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) layup.  Chicago State followed with a 10-0 run to take a 15-14 lead. However, the Bulldogs closed the first half with a 12-2 run, capped by Marschner’s jumper, to take a 26-17 halftime lead. 

The Bulldogs and Cougars traded baskets to start the second half, until the Bulldogs broke away with a 13-0 run to take a commanding 21-point lead.

“I think we opened up the second half with great energy,” Baranczyk said. “We really took it at them and picked up our intensity and we had some great team basketball. I thought today overall was a great team effort. I’m happy with a positive assist to turnover ratio.”

The Bulldogs play their next game Thursday night at North Dakota State. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. in Fargo, N.D.

 [This story was written for Ron Maly by John Meyer of Drake's sports information staff].