DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team defeated the UNI Panthers, 81-64, in Missouri Valley Conference action Friday night at the Knapp Center in front of 3,331 fans.
 
Drake (12-7, 7-0 MVC) was led in scoring by sophomore Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) with 16 points. Redshirt junior Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) surpassed the 1,000^th career-point mark as she finished with 12 points. Redshirt junior Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) and junior Sammie Bachrodt each added 11 points. Jonas tied her career-high with six assists and Bachrodt and Hittner each dished out four assists.
 
UNI (8-10, 4-3 MVC) fell behind as many as 22 points early in the third quarter, but charged back into the game cutting the lead to seven points midway through the fourth quarter. The Panthers made 13 three-pointers, including eight in the final two quarters. Rose Simon-Ressler led UNI with 19 points.
 
With a 40-24 halftime lead, Bachrodt, Jonas and sophomore Brenni Rose (Shawnee, Kan.) each made layups out of the break to give Drake its 22-point advantage. The Bulldogs outscored the Panthers, 16-7, in the second quarter and held them to just two field goals.
 
After the 6-0 start to the third, UNI slowly chipped away pulling to within, 59-43, at the end of the period and to within seven points (64-57) at the 5:06 mark of the fourth quarter. The Panthers made three three-pointers in that fourth-quarter span, but the Bulldogs closed the game on a 18-7 run and held UNI to zero three-pointers during that time. Rose scored five of Drake's final eight points while Dean nailed a deep three-pointer for the Bulldogs with just 46 seconds for the final points.
Drake just missed its season-high in shooting percentage at 55.1 percent from the field, and the Bulldogs made 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) of their free throws. Drake hit 10-of-20 (50.0 percent) of its three-pointers, as four different Bulldogs each made two three-pointers. As a team, Drake had nine different players score and eight of those scored at least six points each. The Bulldogs controlled the paint by a 32-10 margin.
 
Junior Nicole Miller (Walker, Iowa) reached her own scoring milestone as she moved past 500 career points. Miller had six points and now has scored 503.
 
Following Friday's game, Drake heads to Illinois State Friday, Jan. 26 for a 7 p.m. contest at Redbird Arena.