Women's Basketball March 07, 2009 ISU Athletics

Indiana State Falls At Drake In Regular Season Finale, Will Play Bradley In Tournament Quarterfinals

DES MOINES, Iowa ? Indiana State limited Drake to just 36.7 percent shooting from the field, but the Bulldogs tallied 14 second chance points and converted 18 ISU turnovers into 19 points en route to earning a 63-38 victory in front of 2,423 fans at the Knapp Center.

The regular season concluded for Indiana State with a 14-15 overall record and a 10-8 ledger in The Valley while Drake wrapped up its season with an 18-11 overall record and a 12-6 mark in league play.

ISU has secured the No. 5 seed at next week's State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and will take on the No. 4 seeded Bradley Braves at 3:30 p.m. (EDT) inside The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., on Friday, March 13.

The Sycamores were able to hold Drake to a 22-of-60 shooting effort from the floor (36.7 percent), but the Bulldogs got 15 more field goal attempts than ISU by virtue of its 20 offensive rebounds. Drake converted those in 14 second chance points. Indiana State could must just a 15-of-45 mark from the floor and were only 1-of-12 from behind the 3-point line.

The Bulldogs owned a 46-25 rebounding edge in the game.

Freshman Shannon Thomas was 5-of-10 from the floor as she tied her career high with 11 points and posted three blocked shots off the bench. Also in double figures was senior Kara Schilli, who likewise posted a 5-of-10 mark from the floor to post 10 points as well.

Brittany Schoen scored seven points, hitting all five of her free throw attempts.

Drake was paced by a 13-point effort from Amber Wollschlager. Coming into the game she had hit just three 3-pointers during league play, but tied that mark in game's first few minutes.

The Bulldogs came out blazing in the first half, reaching 30 points by the 10 minute mark of the first half. The Sycamore defense really clamped down and allowed just one field goal over the final half of the first period and took a 32-21 lead into the locker room.

ISU came out strong in the second half using a lay-up by Kelsie Cooley to trim the lead down to 32-23 and after Monique Jones stretched the lead back to 10 points, Sarah Paul scored on a driving lay-up to make it 33-25. That would be as close as the Sycamores would get the rest of the game as Drake used its size, rebounding and defensive pressure to take the 63-38 victory.

ISU held Drake to just 38 points in the season opener on Nellie & John Wooden Court at Hulman Center to post one of the best defensive efforts in the history of the league, but this time it was Drake that posted the record setting mark in holding the Sycamores to just 38 points in the game.

As mentioned earlier, the Sycamores open play in the State Farm MVC Tournament against Bradley on Friday, March 13 at 3:30 p.m. The game can be seen live on a pay-per-view basis at MVCSports.com as well as heard on The Crock 92.7 FM in the Wabash Valley and world-wide at GoSycamores.com.

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