DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 21/22 Drake University women's basketball team welcomes UNI Friday in the annual Pink Game presented by Mercy Medical Center. Tipoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 7 p.m. and it will be broadcast on
The Valley on ESPN3.
The lower seating bowl of the Knapp Center (sections A-T) is sold out for the game, but fans wishing to purchase tickets to the game can buy upper-level general admission tickets now and throughout the game. Adult tickets are $10 and youth $5 (ages 3-18). Call 515-271-DOGS (3647) or visit
https://www.draketix.com/womensbasketball.
Drake (22-4, 15-0 MVC) and UNI (20-6, 13-2 MVC) are one and two, respectively, in the Missouri Valley Conference standings and meet for the first time since their epic two-overtime thriller on Jan. 24 in Cedar Falls that the Bulldogs won 88-79. If Drake wins Friday night it will clinch the MVC regular season. It would be the Bulldogs' first outright MVC regular season title since the 1999-2000 season and their sixth overall.
Drake is riding a 16-game winning streak, including 15-consecutive wins to start MVC play, after its wins at Indiana State and Loyola over the weekend. The winning streak ties the program record set by the 1996-97 Drake team.
The road wins pushed the Bulldogs to No. 21 in the latest Women's Basketball
AP Top 25 poll released Monday. It is the first time since 1982-83, Drake is ranked for consecutive weeks in the poll and is the highest ranking for the program since Dec. 5, 1982 (No. 20). Drake's ranking is also the highest for any MVC team since Missouri State appeared at No. 15 on March 13, 2001. On Tuesday, Drake entered the
USA Today Women's Basketball Coaches poll for the first time this season, debuting at No. 22.
UNI has won 16 of its last 18 games and five of six since the loss to Drake. The Panthers have the MVC's second-highest scoring offense at 66.8 points a game and scoring defense at 57.4 points a game. Senior Madison Weekly is UNI's top scorer at 15.3 points, which ranks third in the conference.
Following Friday's game, Drake returns to action on March 2 when it hosts Missouri State at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs will play their final game of the regular season on March 4 at 2 p.m. when Wichita State visits the Knapp Center.
