As soon as the ball was tipped off in the ISU-Drake Women’s Basketball MVC matchup Friday night, it was very apparent that defense was what was going to determine the outcome of the game. After dropping two of their last three games (all on the road) Illinois State (8-8, 3-2) needed to get some energy from their home crowd to get their offense going early against Drake (9-7, 32). The first five minutes of the game was very low-scoring, much in part to both ISU’s Marley Hall and Drake’s Rachel Hackbarth. Both of these defensive minded teams kept the opposing team’s offenses from really producing.  It wasn’t until MVC newcomer of the week Jamie Russell started dictating play that the lady redbirds really started to begin playing well together. A strong offensive player, Russell had 4 rebounds in the first 9 minutes allowing for the offense to try and put more points up on the board for Illinois State.

Drake’s defense was no pushover though, keeping the score low for much of the first half. The biggest lead ISU had up until the final five minutes was 4 points, and even that gap was quickly closed as Drake pulled ahead 22-21 with two minutes left in the first half. From that point on however, it was all Illinois State. The redbirds drew energy from the crowd as their offense really got clicking to go on a 9-0 run to go into the half.

Coming out of the half, it would seem the Redbirds would continue their streak, feeding off the energy of the home crowd, but it was Drake that really capitalized in the opening moments of the second half. In the first five minutes the Bulldogs were able to narrow down the ISU lead to three, making the score 37-34. It was at this point that the stingy Redbird defense seen in the first half came out picking up plenty of rebounds to keep ahead of Drake’s offense. Despite giving up four turnovers in the first seven minutes of second half play, tough play from Candace Sykes in the next five minutes really pushed ISU forward. Despite getting fouled in three point territory Sykes was able to complete her shot and knock down the free throw completing the four point play. After Drake took the ball down court and completed a layup, Sykes knocked down another three to increase the Redbirds lead.

But Drake just would not go away. Kyndal Clark started to step up for the Bulldogs by hitting back to back three point shots, as they pulled ahead by two with seven minutes left, the score being 47-45. These two teams were very evenly matched going into the final five minutes, every time one side would score, the other would respond with a basket themselves. With just under two minutes of play left Marley Hall stepped up once again putting up an easy layup to tie the score at 60-60. The score stayed the same up until the final eight seconds of play when Drake got possession of the ball due to an offensive foul from Illinois State. Narrowly avoiding a five second violation, Drake took a timeout much in part to the strong Redbird press. After the timeout Drake inbounded the ball, drove to the opposite side of the court where ISU stuffed a shot knocking the ball out of bounds. With 2.8 seconds left on the clock Drake imbounded the ball to Rachael Hackberth who missed the layup, sending the game into a five minute overtime.

Even though Rachael Hackberth missed that final shot for Drake, she made up for it to start overtime by putting in a layup. Drake quickly pulled ahead to 66-61. ISU would not let them get away with the game that easily thanks in part to that defense that had done so well earlier in the game. They pulled within three with 1:30 seconds left, kept Drake from scoring, and with just 46 seconds left Katie Broadway hit a 3-point shot, tying the game at 67-67. This got the crowd up on their feet cheering into the final seconds of the game. After missed shots from both teams, Drake found themselves inbounding the ball with 8.9 seconds left. A quick steal by Katie Broadway, a drive to the hoop, and a foul from Drake left 1.9 seconds on the clock and Broadway at the free throw line. She downed both shots giving the Redbirds a two point lead. After missing the inbound pass by Drake, the game was all but over and they were forced to foul Candace Sykes. She sunk both free throws securing the Redbird victory at 71-67.

Illinois State will look to carry momentum from this home win into their next game in Doug Collins Arena, Sunday at 2:05pm versus MVC foe Creighton.