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December 29, 2006 INDIANA STATE DOWNS DRAKE IN MVC OPENER, 84-67 TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State senior Rachel Maenpaa scored a career high 25 points and pulled down nine rebounds as the Sycamores opened defense of their Missouri Valley Conference championship with a 84-67 victory over the visiting Drake Lady Bulldogs Friday night in Hulman Center. It was the second straight 20 point performance for Maenpaa, who had 23 against Vanderbilt, and her fifth time this season she has scored in double figures. She hit 10 field goals in a game for the third time this season. “I’m a senior and you start to think that you’re number of games are counting down,” Maenpaa said after the game. “Our goal tonight was to send a message to the rest of the league that we are the defending champs and not the sixth seed. It was nice!” Kelsey Luna had her seventh double figure scoring game of the season and third straight as the freshman guard came off the bench to score 14 points. Laura Rudolphi had 13 points and Angela Phillips 12. Indiana Rudolphi moved into fifth place on the all-time blocked shot list early in the second half. Rudolphi had a pair of blocks within a minute of each other to give her 75 blocks in her career. “That was one of our better defensive performances of the season,” head coach Jim Wiedie said. “Drake is still a very good team and it will be interested to see what kind of team they have later on in the season. Drake, the preseason favorite to win the MVC title this year, led only twice in the game and both early in the first half. Maria Olsthoorn started an 11-3 ISU run with a pair of free throws with 16:27 left in the first half that put ISU in front for good. The Lady Sycamores led by as many as 15 points in the opening half, taking a 32-17 lead after a Luna three pointer with 5:47 left. But then ISU went cold from the field and Drake took advantage with a 12-1 run that cut the Lady Sycamore lead to four, 33-29. But ISU regained their composure in the final two minutes, Leah Phillips scoring on a fast break and Rachel Maenpaa going inside for two as the Lady Sycamores took a 38-31 lead at the intermission. “If we can get the same contributions from Maenpaa, Rudolphi, Olsthoorn and Schilli, then we will be a tough and difficult team to match up with. It was important for us to establish some sort of inside game early so that it could open up our shooters from the outside.” Drake kept the game close through the first eight minutes of the second half but then ISU went on a 15-0 run that put the Lady Sycamores on top 67-45 with 9:00 left in regulation. ISU had their biggest lead at 26 points, 80-54, with 4:30 left. “We were really focused for this game,” Luna said, “more so than some others since it was a conference game and it was at home.” Indiana State is now 8-4 overall and 1-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Lady Sycamores return to action on Sunday when they host Creighton University. Tip-off is set for 2:05 p.m. in the Hulman Center. Drake fell to 5-6 overall and 0-1 in the MVC.
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