LINCOLN, Neb. – The Drake University women's basketball team opens the 2018-19 season at Nebraska Wednesday night. Tipoff at Pinnacle Bank Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. The opener will be broadcast on the radio on 1350 ESPN Des Moines with Hunter Phillips and Randy Mauro calling the action. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus (subscription required).
Drake cruised to a pair of exhibition wins in the preseason. The Bulldogs defeated Dubuque, 117-33 and Pittsburg State, 92-55. Junior
Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) and redshirt junior
Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) averaged 15.0 and 15.5 points per game, respectively, in the victories. The duo was selected to the 2018 All-MVC Preseason First Team while Hittner was named the MVC Preseason Player of the Year.
Drake and Nebraska are set to play each other for the third straight season. The teams played a two-overtime game last season at the Knapp Center as the Cornhuskers held on for a 89-84 victory. Junior
Brenni Rose (Shawnee, Kan.) scored a season-high 20 points and Rose was one of four Bulldogs in double figures. However, Drake was without
Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) who sat out the game due to injury. Nebraska holds a 11-9 advantage in the all-time series, but Drake won the last meeting by a score of 84-70 in Lincoln during the 2016-17 season.
Nebraska went on to the qualify for the NCAA Tournament behind a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten. Head coach Amy Williams was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in just her second season after helping the team improve its win total by 14 from the 2016-17 season. Junior Hannah Whitish is the top returning scorer for the Huskers, who return their top five from last season, at 12.6 points per game.
Following Wednesday's game, Drake stays on the road as it plays at Western Illinois Saturday, Nov. 10 at 4:30 p.m. The Bulldogs and the Leathernecks are renewing their rivalry that started in 1982, but was last played in 2007. Drake owns a 23-1 advantage in the series. Western Illinois starts its season Tuesday at home against Missouri.
