Photo: Joel Venzke
On Tuesday (Nov. 25), the Drake women’s basketball team traveled to Ames and faced off against No. 24 Iowa State (5-0) at Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State defeated Drake (1-4) by a score of 87-45.
The Cyclones’ strong bench play and tough defense trumped Drake’s offensive efforts. The Bulldogs were held scoreless in the first nine minutes of the game, allowing the Cyclones to start off on a 13-0 run. The Bulldogs were only able to shoot 26.2 percent from the field in the first half as the Bulldogs trailed 51-13 at the break.
Drake allowed the Cyclones to shoot 51.7 percent from the field throughout the game. The Bulldogs also turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 28 points off turnovers for the Cyclones.
The Bulldogs improved after the break, boosting their field goal percentage from 16.1 percent in the first half to 36.7 percent in the second half. But after Drake’s disappointing first half, there wasn’t much the Bulldogs could do to claw back into the game.
Iowa State’s Hallie Christofferson led the Cyclones with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Anna Prins and Nicole Blaskowski each recorded 17 points, and Nikki Moody recorded 15 points and 10 assists.
Sophomore Cara Lutes came into the game with a hot-hand and scored a career-high 19 points to go along with five rebounds in only 17 minutes.
Iowa State has allowed the fewest amount of points in the Big 12 conference and has held its last three opponents 30 points below their usual scoring average.
Sophomore Kyndal Clark had an unusually quiet night against the Cyclones and was held scoreless. Clark shot 0-of-6 from the field and 0-of-2 from three-point range in 18 minutes of action.
This was the Cyclones’ eighth win in the last nine games against the Bulldogs, which brings both teams to a total of 26 wins against one another. This was Drake’s second worst loss against Iowa State. The Bulldogs lost 95-29 to the Cyclones in 1975.
Drake took on Chicago State on Sunday. The results from that match can be found in the next issue of The Times-Delphic.
