MOLINE, Ill. – The No. 1 seeded Drake University women's basketball team advanced to the championship game of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 68-59 win over No. 4 seed SIU in the semifinals Saturday, March 10, at the TaxSlayer Center. Drake will face the winner of the Missouri State/UNI game in the title tilt at 2 p.m. Sunday on ESPN3.
 
Drake (25-7) advanced behind 22 points from Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) while MVC Player of the Year Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) added 15 points in the Bulldogs' 20th-consecutive win. Dean and Hittner combined to hit seven of the Bulldogs' 11 three-pointers to give the team a school record and Missouri Valley record 308 three-pointers this season. Drake handed out 19 assists on 23 field goals as it added to its school record for a single season at 732.
 
The Bulldogs shot 50 percent in the second half to overcome a slow start and create enough separation to hold off a resilient Saluki squad that challenged every lead the Bulldogs created. SIU (17-14) was led by two freshmen with 17 points from Makenzie Silvey and 12 points from Abby Brockmeyer.
 
The Bulldogs started off uncharacteristically slow, making just three of their first 14 shots and finished the quarter with eight points, the team's lowest quarter output of the season to trail 18-8. Silvey and Brockmeyer combined to score 14 of the Salukis' first-half points.
 
After falling behind by 12 points in the opening seconds of the second quarter, the Bulldogs quickly reasserted themselves as the top seed by outscoring the Salukis 15-3 over the next five minutes to tie the contest at 23-23 with 4:03 left in the period. That run was extended to a 24-4 spurt as Drake's defense held the Salukis to just one field goal in the final six minutes of the period to take a 29-26 lead into halftime. Dean scored 10 of the Bulldogs' first-half points with a pair of three-pointers.
 
However, SIU opened the second half much the same as the first, outscoring Drake 12-4 to open the third quarter. SIU's defense only allowed Drake to shoot 1-of-5 to open the period and forced four turnovers in the first six minutes of the period to take a five-point, 38-33, lead with 4:17 left on a Kylie Giebelhausen jumper. However, SIU held that lead for less than a minute as seven-straight points from the Bulldogs erased their deficit and back-to-back three-pointers from Hittner and Dean would later give Drake a six-point, 46-40, lead with 78 seconds left in the quarter. The Bulldogs made four-straight shots to end the period shooting 7-of-12 despite the slow start to the quarter.
 
The Bulldogs did not let that momentum slip away, scoring twice in the first minute of the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to 52-42 and force SIU into a quick timeout. SIU pulled within five points after the timeout, but another set of three-pointers from Dean and Hittner stretched the lead back out to 15 points with less than four minutes remaining and the Salukis. But again, the Salukis responded once more with 10-straight points, six of them from Nicole Martin, to draw back within five points, 64-59, with less than a minute remaining. SIU send Drake to the free-throw line four times in the final minute in an attempt to extend the game and the Bulldogs converted all four attempts to put the Salukis away for good.
 
Drake's appearance in the MVC Tournament championship game will be the 13th championship game appearance for the Bulldogs who have won six MVC Tournament titles.