Southern Illinois University
Drake
Drake Hands SIU Fifth Straight Loss, 89-71
03/20/2001 | 12:00:00 | Women's Basketball
January 20, 2001
Des Moines, Iowa -
Drake University (11-4, 6-1) scored on its first nine possessions of the second half en route to a 89-71 victory over Southern Illinois University Carbondale Saturday in Missouri Valley Conference action at Drake Knapp Center.
Carla Bennett led all Bulldog scorers with 24 points as all five Drake starters scored in double figures.
Trailing 10-7 with 14:55 left in the first half, SIU scored seven points off three Drake turnovers to build a 7-0 run which held the Bulldogs scoreless for 2:26 as the Salukis built their biggest lead at 14-10. Hathaway scored five points during the spurt including a three-pointer which capped off the rally with 13:09 to play. Up 14-10, the Salukis then ran into a cold spell as five consecutive misses helped the Bulldogs put together a 12-2 run to take a 22-16 lead with 7:38 remaining. After Drake built its biggest margin of nine points on two occasions with the second being at 32-23 (3:46), SIU then outscored the Bulldogs, 10-4, as a pair of Molly McDowell layups and two Angela Tolbert free throws helped pull the Salukis to within three, 36-33 (1:01). Drake's Allison Burchill then hit a jumper to give the Bulldogs a 38-33 lead as the half came to a close.
Up 57-49 with 13:26 to play, Drake ignited a 10-0 run which held SIU scoreless for 5:01 rallying behind Kristin Santa (3) and Stephanie Schmitz (3) who combined for six of the 10 to give the Bulldogs a 67-49 lead. Following a Kristine Abramowski layup which broke the SIU drought at the 8:55 mark, Drake then never looked back and went on to build its biggest lead at 77-55 with 5:04 remaining. The Salukis were able to cut the margin to 86-71 (1:19) on a pair of McDowell free throws, but that was as close as the Dawgs would get as Drake ran away with the 89-71 win.
McDowell led all Saluki scorers with 16 points as the loss marked the 10th straight SIU has dropped to Drake. Also scoring in double figures were Tolbert (14), Hathaway (12) and Tiffany Crutcher who had a season best 10 points.
SIU, now 4-12, 1-6 on the year, will return home to host its second three-game homstand of the season beginning with Indiana State on Thursday, Jan. 25, at 7:05 p.m. Following their contest with the Sycamores, the Salukis will entertain both Illinois State on Saturday, Jan. 27 (4:05 p.m.), and Bradley on Wednesday, Jan. 31 (7:05 p.m.).
