CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – In a battle between the top two women's basketball teams in the Missouri Valley Conference on Friday, Jan. 27, the Drake University women's basketball team edged the UNI Panthers, 88-79, in a double-overtime thriller at the McLeod Center.
 
Drake improved to 16-4 overall and 9-0 in the MVC with the road victory to take sole possession of first place in the conference. UNI had an 11-game winning streak snapped with the loss and dropped to 15-5 overall and 9-1 in league play. The two overtimes are the most extra periods in the series since the two teams played a four-overtime thriller on Jan. 23, 1992 that Drake won 112-106 in the Knapp Center.
 
The Bulldogs had five players finish in double figures, led by redshirt sophomore Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) with a team-high 18 points. Jonas added 12 rebounds and a career-high six assists for her second double-double this season and 12^th in her career. Two others recorded double-doubles as freshmen Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) and Brenni Rose (Shawnee, Kan.) joined Jonas. Hittner had a career-high 11 rebounds and 10 points for her second career double-double while Rose set new career-highs with 17 points and 10 rebounds for her first.
 
Senior Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) added 16 points with 14 coming after halftime while Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) had 12 points and eight assists.
 
In a game that featured 16 score ties and 10 lead changes it was Drake who finally seized control of the game late in the second overtime. With the score at 72-72, UNI scored the first point of the overtime on a free throw, but the Bulldogs answered with a three-point play by Rose to go up 75-73. The Panthers tied the game up with a pair of free throws, but it would be as close as they would get as Wendell made her own three-point play and a pair of free throws and Rose had a layup to push the advantage to five points at 82-77. UNI cut its deficit to three points at 82-79 with 1:11 left in the game, but Drake closed out the win with a 6-0 scoring run to snap a three-game losing streak in the series.
 
Drake made 34-of-36 free throws as Hittner (8-of-8) and Rose (9-of-10) set career marks at the charity stripe and Wendell made 8-of-9. As a team, Drake overcame a 2-of-20 shooting performance from behind the three-point line. The Bulldogs had 25 bench points behind Rose's career-day.
 
Following Friday's game, Drake enjoys a short break before returning to action on Feb. 3 at Southern Illinois.