Bradley BRAD 9-15 (5-8 MVC)

Drake DU 20-4 (13-0 MVC)

Bradley BRAD

9-15 (5-8 MVC)

Final

Feb. 12, 2017

Drake DU

20-4 (13-0 MVC)

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Bradley BRAD	9	12	12	13	46
Drake DU	18	26	32	22	98

Box Score

Duane Zehr, Bradley University ITPS

Shorthanded Braves Fall At League-Leading Drake

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 2/12/2017 4:28:00 PM

DES MOINES, Iowa – Playing without the top rebounder in the Missouri Valley Conference, Bradley couldn't keep pace with league-leading Drake's high powered offense as the Bulldogs topped the Braves 98-46 Sunday afternoon at the Knapp Center.

Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) missed her first game since midway through her sophomore season, sitting out of Sunday's outing against Drake, which became the first team in MVC history to start out league play 13-0. Lerma had reached double figures in rebounds in six consecutive games after grabbing 12 boards Friday at Northern Iowa before missing the Drake game because of injury.

Sophomore Vanessa Markert (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) led the Braves with 10 points, five rebounds and tallied a career-best five blocks. Freshman Chelsea Brackmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) chipped in with six points and corralled a game-high eight boards in addition to tying a season-best with four assists for Bradley (9-15 overall, 5-8 MVC).

Drake forced 22 Bradley turnovers, while committing just six of its own and held a 28-2 advantage in points off turnovers. After starting the game 6-of-21 (28.6 percent) from the field in the first quarter, the Bulldogs were 30-for-51 (58.8 percent) over the final 30 minutes. In addition, Drake was 14-for-28 from three-point range in the win to extend its win streak to 14 consecutive games.

"We tried to slow it down, but Drake does a great job of pushing the tempo," said Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski. "With Leti out, they got some offensive rebounds they probably wouldn't have normally and led to some extra second chance opportunities."

Lizzy Wendell paced five Drake players in double figures with a game-high 20 points. Caitlin Ingle was 7-for-8 from the field, finishing with 16 points and seven assists to lead the Bulldogs.

Bradley will play three of the last five regular-season games of the year at Renaissance Coliseum, opening a two-game home stand Friday with a 7 p.m. contest against Missouri State in the team's Play4Kay game.

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