CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Drake University women's basketball team closes its first Missouri Valley Conference road trip Sunday at Southern Illinois at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3.
 
Drake (8-7, 3-0 MVC) and SIU (8-6, 3-0 MVC) are tied for first place in the MVC standings after the Salukis defeated UNI, 60-53, in overtime and the Bulldogs raced past Missouri State, 80-68, Friday night.
 
Drake made MVC history with its win over the Lady Bears as the program has won 25 consecutive regular season league games, a streak that started Feb. 26, 2016. The road win broke a tie with Missouri State, which won 24 straight games from Jan. 9, 1999 to Feb. 5, 2000.
 
Sophomore Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) scored a game-high 24 points behind a great shooting night of 6-of-10 from the floor, 3-of-5 from deep, 9-of-10 from the free throw line and she added six rebounds. Four other Bulldogs joined Hittner in double figures. Playing just down the road from her hometown, redshirt sophomore Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.), recorded her third double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) had 12 points and six boards and Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) had 11 points and eight rebounds. Junior Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) finished with another impressive all-around performance with nine points, eight rebounds, a career-high seven assists and two steals. Those five helped the Bulldogs dominate on the glass with a 49-27 advantage, including pulling down 14 offensive rebounds and limiting Missouri State to just three.
 
SIU is off to a 3-0 start in league play for the second time in three seasons and third time since Valley play began in 1992. The Salukis rallied from a 5-point deficit with 3:33 left in regulation and then outscored UNI, 11-4, in overtime to claim their second straight win over UNI in Carbondale, Ill. Freshman MaKenzie Silvey scored a career-high 17 points.
 
Following Sunday's game, Drake returns to the Knapp Center to host Indiana State on Jan. 12.