MOLINE, ILL. – The Drake University women's basketball team never trailed in an 89-53 rout of Evansville on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at iWireless Center.
Every Drake (22-8) player scored in the game, led by freshman
Sara Rhine's (Eldon, Mo.) game-high 17 points, as Rhine just missed her fifth career double-double with nine rebounds while sophomore
Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) added 16 points. Junior
Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) scored 14 points, for her 75
th-consecutive game of reaching double digits. Junior
Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) added 11 points and a game-high seven assists.
Evansville (3-28) finished just 18-of-63 (28.6 percent) from the floor and made just seven three-pointers. Drake limited the Purple Aces' leading scorer, junior Sara Dickey, to just four points as Dickey was 1-of-14 from the floor and 0-of-10 from behind the three-point line. Drake avenged its loss to Evansville in last season's quarterfinals.
Drake raced out to a big lead in the first quarter with a 15-0 scoring run that included
making four three-pointers. Senior
Emma Donahue (Naperville, Ill.) had the game's first points just 35 seconds in with a three-pointer and five other Bulldogs made one three-pointer in the first quarter. Drake connected on eight of its first 10 three-pointers, never being threatened again by Evansville, as the Bulldogs would lead by as many 42 points late in the third quarter.
Rhine was the only Bulldog to not make a three-pointer on Thursday as the team hit 12. The Bulldogs tied for the fourth most three-pointers in a single MVC Tournament game. Donahue ended the game with nine points, six rebounds and two assists. As a team, the Bulldogs made 37 field goals and 25 assists. Wendell added three assists, two steals and one block in just 22 minutes.
Drake advances to Saturday's semifinals, where it will play the winner of No. 3 Missouri State and No. 6 Indiana State. Those two teams play the final game on Friday night. Saturday's game will start at 4:05 p.m. The Bulldogs are making their first trip to the semi's since 2014.
