TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? The Indiana State Sycamores earned a homecourt victory over Drake on Saturday (February 2) with a tough, hard-nosed defensive effort that limited the Bulldogs to an ISU defensive-best point total of the season in a 54-46 victory over the Missouri Valley's Preseason favorite team.

The Sycamores improved to 10-9, 4-5 MVC while Drake dropped to 13-7, 6-3 MVC.

Drake was limited to just 29.2% shooting in the first half as the Sycamores earned a 28-15 lead at the intermission. No buckets were scored in this one until Drake's Monique Jones tickled the twine for a 2-0 lead with 16:55 left in the first half.

Kara Schilli came back to knot the game at two points each, as the two teams slugged at each other on the defensive end over the first seven minutes of the game. ISU Preseason All-MVC selection Jill Martin's lay-up with 13:10 left made it 6-6, and she followed with another jumper at the 12:46 mark to give Drake an 8-6 lead.

After a lay-up past Martin by freshman Kelsie Cooley made it 8-8 just 15 seconds later, the Sycamores were sparked to a 10-0 spurt over the next three minutes to take a 16-8 advantage. With the score knotted at eight points on Cooley's bucket, Luna made a jumper in transition and then Maria Olsthoorn converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to make it 13-8. A 3-pointer by Luna gave ISU the 16-8 cushion.

The Bulldogs were able to score the next five points to make it 16-13, but the Sycamores regrouped and went on an 8-0 run to take a 24-13 lead with 3:39 left in the half. This run featured another four throws by Luna and Olsthoorn. Drake's Morgan Herrick got her own offensive rebound with two and half minutes left and went back up to make it 24-15. That would be the final bucket for the Bulldogs before the break.

Senior Laura Rudolphi poured in the a pair of free throws and Annie Bankhead added a jumper in the paint with two seconds left on the clock for the 28-15 halftime lead.

Rudolphi drew first blood for the Sycamores in the first half as ISU scored the second half's first nine points, six of them by Rudolphi, to mount its largest lead of the game, 37-15 with 17:25 showing on the clock.

The Sycamores made their last stand after a 16-4 run by Drake over a six minute span of the second half got them within nine points, 44-35 with 7:44 left.

Leah Phillips made a driving lay-up with 7:14 left to make it 46-35 and then she came right back with another after a defensive stop to balloon the advantage back up to 13 points, 48-35 with 6:14 on the clock.

After the lead reached 49-35 with 4:48 left in the game, the Bulldogs went on a 9-0 spurt to make it 49-44 with just over a minute left. Luna connected on a pair of free throws with 37 seconds to left to stretch the advantage back out to 51-44. Drake's Lindsay Whorton missed an off-balance 3-pointer and Schilli added another free throw to make the score 52-44.

Lauren Dybing connected on a lay-up with 10 seconds left to make it 52-46, but Angela Phillips scored her only two points on the night on a pair of free throws to net the 54-46 victory.

Luna's 17 points paced Indiana State while Rudolphi scored 10. Olsthoorn finished the game with nine points and nine rebounds as she narrowly missed a double-double.

Drake's Lindsay Whorton paced the Bulldogs with 15 points, all of which were scored in the second half. Martin scored 11 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for Drake.

The charity stripe proved to be the Sycamores' biggest ally in the game as ISU hit 15-of-17 attempts. Drake was just 2-of-3 at the free throw line, but connected on 20 field goals as opposed to 18 for ISU.

Drake improved to a solid 40.8% shooting percentage in the second half, while the Sycamores connected on just 30.8% of their attempts after the break to finish with a 32.1% mark.

The Sycamores out-rebounded Drake by a 37-36 margin, while scoring nine second chance points. Drake committed 15 first half turnovers, but finished with only 18 in the game. For the second consecutive game ISU was held to just nine assists.

Indiana State held the halftime lead for the fifth consecutive game, and improved to 2-3 in those contests. The 46 points allowed to Drake tops the 49 ISU allowed earlier this season at Arkansas State.

The 6,900 fans in attendance at the game are a school record. All tickets to game were available for free as part of SERVPRO Fan Day at the Hulman Center.

The Sycamores return to action on Thursday, February 7 when they travel to Peoria, Ill., to take on the Bradley Braves at Robertson Fieldhouse. Tip-off is slated for 8:05 p.m. (EST).