Drake women's basketball team bounces back from rough loss with win over Bradley

Two days after one of its worst offensive performances of the season, the Drake women's basketball team gathered at the Knapp Center for a humbling film session.

The Bulldogs watched video of Sunday's 22-point loss at Illinois-Chicago and their 1-for-20 performance from 3-point range to see what went wrong.

"At UIC we got really sped up at times and kind of went at their pace and kind of let them dictate the game," said Drake forward Maggie Bair.

The Bulldogs made sure that didn't happen again Thursday night. Drake led from start to finish and had no trouble shooting the ball during a dominating 81-49 victory over Bradley.

"It's fun to bounce back," said Bair, who finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds. "Obviously it's a hard loss and we've got a lot to figure out and a lot to learn. What better way to do it than to bounce back with a win?"

Drake (15-8 overall, 10-5 in Missouri Valley Conference play) had an offensive outburst against Bradley (3-23, 0-15). Four players scored in double figures for the Bulldogs, including Anna Miller and Taylor McAulay, who both added 11 points.

The Bulldogs shot 46.9% (30-for-64) from the field including 41.7% (10-24) from 3-point range. They tallied 23 assists on 30 baskets. The strong shooting performance kept them in complete control the entire night. They led 23-7 after the first quarter and built a 42-27 lead at halftime.

Drake coach Allison Pohlman said her team controlled the pace of the game by relying on its fast-moving offense.

"Once we kind of got those very first possessions out, I thought we really got in sync pretty quickly," Pohlman said.

Drake dominated defensively early on

The Bulldogs were nearly flawless with their first-quarter defense. Bradley missed its first 11 shots from the field and quickly fell into a 15-0 hole.

Their first basket didn’t come until 6:56 into the game when Nika Dorsey connected on a jumper. The rest of the quarter wasn’t much better for Bradley, which shot just 17.6% (3-17) from the field including 1-for-7 from 3-point range.

By the end of the night, Bradley shot just 31.1% (19-61) from the field.

Next up for Drake? First-place Illinois State

The timing of Drake’s big-time performance couldn’t have been any better. Drake’s next opponent is Illinois State, which sits in first place in the MVC. The two last faced each other back on Dec. 30. Illinois State rolled past the Bulldogs with an 87-76 win.

Thursday's performance might have given the Bulldogs some much-needed momentum heading into Saturday's 2 p.m. home contest against the Redbirds.

"It's nice to be able to get a solid win and get a confidence booster a little bit," Bair said.