DES MOINES, Iowa - The Drake University women's basketball team opened their home schedule with a convincing 76-64 win over visiting South Dakota Thursday evening in front of a crowd of 5,511 at the Knapp Center.
 
Junior Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) led a quintet of Bulldogs in double-figure scoring with a game-high 17 points. Senior Nicole Miller (Walker, Iowa) added 12 points and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the three-point arc including a pair of three-pointers to help the Bulldogs pull away late. Redshirt junior Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) recorded her third consecutive double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Sophomore Maddie Monahan (Silver Lake, Minn.) scored a career-high 10 points. Senior Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) added 11 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
 
Taylor Frederick led South Dakota (2-1) with 15 points and eight rebounds. The Coyotes were able to remain within striking distance of Drake (3-0) for much of the contest by capitalizing on an uncharacteristic 26 turnovers by the Bulldogs.
 
However, the Bulldogs converted at a 52.8 percent clip from the field to keep the Coyotes from mounting a serious challenge to the lead as Drake led from start-to-finish of the contest.
 
The Coyotes kept pace with the Bulldogs for much of the first quarter until Drake made five of their final six shots of the period to build up a 22-16 lead. Drake maintained that lead and opened the second quarter by using a 13-4 start to the period to build up a 35-20 lead five minutes into the second quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers from Hittner and Monahan capped that spurt.
 
USD chipped away at that margin over the next five minutes, outscoring Drake 14-5 to close the half with a last-second heave hitting its mark to pull within six points at 40-34 going into halftime.
 
Hittner, who made her first three three-point attempts of the half, finished with 11 first-half points.

 
USD opened the second half on an 11-5 run with seven points from Chloe Lamb to briefly pull within two points at 45-43 before the Bulldogs ran their advantage out to nine points, 56-46, to close the third quarter.
 
Drake quickly added to that lead by making six of its first seven shots in the fourth quarter, including a pair of three-pointers from Miller, to build a 73-57 lead with 3:22 left in the contest. The Bulldogs comfortably rode out that advantage to the final 76-64 win.
 
Before tipoff, the Bulldogs unveiled their newest addition to the Knapp Center rafters with the unveiling of their 2018 Missouri Valley Conference championship banner.
 
Drake continues its two-game homestand Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. with CSUN visiting the Knapp Center. The first-ever meeting between the two teams will be streamed on ESPN+.