Drake extended its win streak to 12 games and earned this week's Team of the Week honors.
Having gone the entire month of January undefeated, Drake continued its 2017 roll by claiming the 800th all-time win in program history while at the same time extending the team victory streak to 12 games in a row.
Drake, 18-4 overall and 11-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), scored wins last week over Southern Illinois and Evansville in convincing fashion. This coming a week after beating MVC contender Northern Iowa on the road, pushing the Bulldogs to a two-game lead in the conference standings. The perfect 11-0 start to league play matches the best start in Drake history since the 1997-98 team won its first 10 MVC games
Today’s win was extra special as it was the 800th in our program’s history! pic.twitter.com/qy5AFPWCBt
— Drake WBB (@DrakeWBB) February 5, 2017
In the 70-61 win over Southern Illinois on Feb. 3, seniors Caitlin Ingle and Lizzy Wendell scored 20 and 21 points, respectively, as Drake rallied from a halftime deficit for a 71-60 win. Trailing SIU at halftime by a score of 35-31, Drake battled back to tie the game at 50-50 at the end of the third quarter. At the start of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs seized control of the game with an 8-2 scoring run that started with a basket by sophomore Sammie Bachrodt as they never trailed again to complete the comeback. Bachrodt did a little bit of everything for Drake in the road win, finishing with six points, six rebounds, a career-tying six steals, four assists and one block. Freshman Becca Hittner just missed double figures with nine points, while adding five rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Becca Jonas tallied seven points and eight rebounds. Ingle tied her career mark with nine field goals.
Drake closed the week with a 73-48 win at Evansville. Five Bulldogs scored in double figures led by Bachrodt, who led Drake with her first career double-double finishing with 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, including six offensive boards. Bachrodt nabbed five steals and has 11 in the past two games. Jonas also had a double-double with 11 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. Jonas also pulled down six offensive boards. Joining Bachrodt and Jonas in double figures was Hittner and Wendell, with 11 points each.
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The double figure scoring outing allowed Wendell to extend her impressive double-figure scoring streak to 100 consecutive games, a streak that started during her freshman season. Team and conference leading scorer at 21.7 points per game, Wendell has connected on 51.1 percent of her field goal attempts this season.
Drake will next play at home against Illinois State on Feb. 10.
Honorable mention teams of the week: Belmont, Colorado State, Dayton, DePaul, Georgia, Little Rock, Maryland, New Mexico State and Texas Southern.
