Defense lifts Drake over Northern Iowa
Story by Ashley Beall
Photo by Joel Venzke
Drake women’s basketball took on Northern Iowa this past Sunday at the Knapp Center. The Bulldogs came out on top and defeated the Panthers 63-55.
“(You’ve) got to give Drake credit. They outworked us,” said Northern Iowa head coach Tanya Warren in a Drake athletics press release.
The Drake win ended the six-game losing streak to UNI and created a two-game winning streak for the Bulldogs in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“It feels great. It’s the first time to get this win,” said junior Morgan Reid. “It was a long time coming.”
The Bulldogs jumped the gun and came out ready to play. Reid led the way with 17 points and 12 rebounds to register her sixth double-double of the 2012-13 campaign. Sophomore Kyndal Clark was guarded heavily by the Panthers but managed to record nine points and nine rebounds. Senior Stephanie Running and redshirt sophomore Carly Grenfell also scored 10 points apiece.
“We were playing together and a lot of people stepped up,” Reid said. “We played really well as a team.”
The Bulldogs started off the game smoothly, and that helped them cruise to victory.
“We were very composed, and that’s one of the things we are most proud of,” said head coach Jennie Baranczyk. “We knew that UNI was going to make a run. They are a great team, and I was really proud of our team today.”
Jacqui Kalin, a key player for UNI who leads the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring, led Northern Iowa with 22 points and 11 rebounds but struggled from the three-point line, scoring only two-of-10, which was a result of heavy guarding by the Bulldogs. Amber Kirschbaum also contributed 10 points for UNI.
The Panthers had a tough time scoring against the Bulldog defense and shot only 33 percent from the field.
“I feel very proud of our team. We’re doing a better job of recognizing our lulls and coming out of them,” Clark said. “UNI is a great squad. Jacqui Kalin is a great player, and we bounced back and we didn’t let them come back like we have in previous games. We gritted it out.
“With our squad, since we’re so young, we take it one day at a time. We’re hungry. We’ve just won two games, we’re making our streak and we’re going to do the little things, hopefully. We’re going to come out early and compete with them and do what we do best and give it our best shot.”
The Bulldogs came out with a win and will look forward to their next home game against Creighton this Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Knapp Center.
