NORMAL, Ill. – The Drake University women's basketball team visits Illinois State Friday night in Missouri Valley Conference action. Tipoff at Redbird Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game is the MVC's game of the week on The Valley on ESPN3.
 
Drake (12-7, 7-0 MVC), which will close the weekend at Bradley on Sunday afternoon, wraps up the first part of its MVC slate with the pair of games in central Illinois. The Bulldogs are on the road after their 81-64 win over UNI at the Knapp Center on Jan. 19. In its last contest, Illinois State (8-10, 2-5 MVC) was edged at Indiana State by a score of 52-49.
 
Drake built a 22-point leader over UNI, but the Panthers battled back behind great three-point shooting, twice cutting their deficit to seven points. However, the Bulldogs answered each run and earned their fourth-straight win in the series. Drake had a balanced offensive attack with four players, led by sophomore Becca Hittner's (Urbandale, Iowa) 16 points, scoring double figures. Four other Bulldogs finished with six points or more as the team shot 55.1 percent from the floor, made 10-of-20 three-pointers and made an impressive 17-of-19 from the free throw line.
 
Redshirt junior Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) scored her 1,000th career point early in the win over UNI. Dean, who missed all of the 2016-17 season due to injury, is the 30th player in program history to score 1,000 or more points. She finished with 12 points on a 4-of-9 shooting performance, and added three rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. This season, Dean has played in all 19 games and scored eight or more points in 12 games. She averages 8.3 points per game and ranks fifth in the MVC in assists per game at 3.3. In league play, Dean leads the MVC in assists per game at 4.6.
 
Friday night at Redbird Arena will be a battle between the top scoring team in league play, Drake at 83.3 points per game, and Illinois State, which is holding Valley opponents to a league-low 53.9 points. Among the MVC leaders, Hittner is second in scoring average in conference play at 15.6 while redshirt sophomore Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) is third at 14.1. Illinois State senior Hannah Green is fifth at 13.2. The Redbirds are led by first-year head coach Kristen Gillespie, who took the Redbirds job after successful stints at Benedictine University and Lewis University in Division II.
 
Following Friday's game, Drake makes the short trip to Peoria, Ill. to play Bradley. Sunday's matinee against the Braves is set for 2 p.m. at Renaissance Coliseum.