DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team won its Missouri Valley Conference home opener over Loyola 69-60 Friday night in the Knapp Center.
 
Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) paced Drake (11-4, 3-0 MVC) with 16 points while Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) just missed her seventh double-double scoring 15 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) finished with an impressive overall statistics line with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) and Brenni Rose (Shawnee, Kan.) each had eight points. Bachrodt equaled her season-best with four steals while Rose added a season-high eight rebounds.
 
Loyola (7-6, 1-1 MVC) was led in scoring by Abby O'Connor who had 14 points.  
 
After a slow start, Drake took an 11-2 early lead with five baskets on five assists. The Bulldogs stretched their lead to 22-6 after one period. But, a tough offensive second-quarter allowed Loyola to pull back in the game, trailing just 32-20 at halftime, as the Ramblers outscored the Bulldogs, 14-10, in that span.
 
However, Drake came out of the halftime break with tough defensive pressure, forcing four turnovers by Loyola, and it put together a 15-2 scoring run to lead by 25 points. After three quarters, the Bulldogs led 56-30. Later, Rose put Drake up by 26 points with a layup with 5:35 to go. After the final media timeout with the Bulldogs' starters on the bench, the Ramblers ripped off a 19-2 closing run to make trim the final deficit to nine points. During the fourth quarter, Loyola shot 71.3 percent from the floor and made six three-pointers.
 
Overall, Drake dominated the paint with a 50-18 advantage, outrebounded Loyola, 38-30 and scored 19 points off turnovers. The Bulldogs handed out 24 assists on 29 field goals.
 
Following Friday's game, Drake hosts Valparaiso Sunday, January 13 at 2 p.m. Sunday will be the final home game in January for the Bulldogs.