DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team clinched its first outright Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship since the 1999-2000 season with a 70-57 victory over UNI on Friday, Feb. 24 night at the Knapp Center in front of a program-record 6,456 fans. The MVC regular season title is the first since 2007-08 (shared with Evansville and Illinois State) and the sixth overall for the program.
 
With the win, Drake (23-4, 16-0 MVC), set the program record for the longest winning streak at 17-straight games, breaking a tie with the 1996-97 Drake team. The Bulldogs clinched the top seed for the Hoops in the Heartland Tournament to be held March 9-12 in Moline, Ill. They will play March 10 at 12:05 p.m. against the winner of the No. 8 and No. 9 play-in game to be played on March 9.
 
The Bulldogs were led by senior Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) who scored a game-high 21 points on an 8-of-15 shooting performance. Freshman Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) continued her stellar freshman campaign with 12 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Sammie Bachrodt and redshirt sophomore Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) joined Wendell and Hittner in double-digits, both adding 10 points. Bachrodt and senior Caitlin Ingle (Runnells, Iowa) both nabbed six rebounds, while Ingle just missed a triple-double with nine points and eight assists.
 
In a game that featured seven ties and four lead changes, Drake took a narrow 26-22 lead into halftime before outscoring UNI 21-12 in the third quarter. The Bulldogs outscored UNI inside the paint, 42-14, while shooting 29-of-56 (51.8 percent) as a team. Drake held UNI to just 28.1 percent (18-of-64) from the floor.
 
UNI (20-7, 13-3 MVC) was led by its senior standout Madison Weekly who put up 19 points while Megan Maahs had a game-high nine rebounds. The Panthers, who sit with the best turnover margin in the conference, committed 13 turnovers allowing the Bulldogs to tally 14 points off of them.
 
The Bulldogs will close out their regular season welcoming Missouri State and Wichita State to the Knapp Center on March 2 and March 4, respectively. Tipoff against the Bears is set for 7 p.m. while the finale versus the Shockers will tip at 2 p.m. After the game against Wichita State, Drake will honor its three seniors Ingle, Cortni Rush (Mason City, Iowa) and Wendell.