Bangordailynews

Drake leads all the way to beat UMaine women’s basketball

D.Brown3 months ago

Drake University’s Bulldogs scored the game’s first five points and never looked back, shooting 54.7 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent beyond the 3-point arc to beat the University of Maine women’s basketball team 72-56 in the final game of the Vibrant Thanksgiving Tournament at the Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa.

Drake improved to 5-2 overall and the Bulldogs went 2-1 in the tournament they hosted. UMaine fell to 4-3 and went 1-2 in the tourney. Richmond went 3-0 and Louisiana Tech went 0-3.

Junior forward Anna Miller paced the Bulldogs with a game-high 17 points to go with four rebounds and a blocked shot. Graduate student forward Grace Berg had 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists and junior guard Katie Dinnebier contributed 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.

UMaine was led by junior forward Adrianna Smith with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. The cold Black Bears shot just 35.5 percent from the floor and 22.2 percent from long distance.

Graduate student guard Anne Simon climbed into ninth place on the school’s all-time scoring list with her 14 points. She also had eight rebounds and two steals. Junior guard Paula Gallego chipped in with 12 points and a pair of rebounds. Windham’s Sarah Talon had six points and four rebounds and Jaycie Christopher of Skowhegan scored five points.

The Bulldogs used a 9-2 spurt to close out the first half and build a 39-26 lead after UMaine had whittled a 12-point deficit to six.

Berg had five of the points in the 9-2 run and she also had an assist on one of Miller’s two baskets. UMaine missed all five of its field goal attempts during that span, and the Black Bears also turned the ball over twice.

The Bulldogs, who went 22-10 a year ago and won the Missouri Valley Conference before losing to No. 5 Louisville 83-81 in the NCAA Tournament, forced eight turnovers in the first period and that led to 11 points as Drake built its 12-point lead.

UMaine will return home before a trip to Portland on Thursday for a 7 p.m. game against Gorham’s Mackenzie Holmes and her 21st-ranked Indiana University Hoosiers at the Cross Insurance Arena. Holmes became the second Hoosier to eclipse the 2,000-point mark for her career on Saturday against Princeton in a tournament in Florida.