DEKALB, Ill. – The Drake University women's basketball team closes its non-conference slate at Northern Illinois Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The game in the Convocation Center will be streamed on ESPN3 and on the radio on 1350 ESPN Des Moines.
 
Drake (7-4) is looking to win its first road game of the season when it visits Northern Illinois (4-6) and stop its first two-game losing streak of the season. The Bulldogs dropped a pair of road games to power 5 opponents, Oklahoma and Iowa, before the holiday break.
 
Drake and Northern Illinois are playing each other for the first time since 2016 when the Bulldogs won 95-86 inside the Knapp Center. The previous season the Huskies won 87-73 in the Convocation Center in the first meeting between the schools since the 1985-86 season. Drake leads the all-time series, 5-1.
 
Becca Hittner and Sara Rhine each shot the basketball well on the road against the Sooners and Hawkeyes. Hittner knocked down four three-pointers in each game and tallied a 50.0 percent overall shooting clip from the floor. Rhine finished with a blistering 65.4 percent clip from the field. Hittner scored 38 points while Rhine had 39 in the two games. This season, Rhine is the MVC's scoring leader at 18.9 points while Hittner is seventh at 16.3 points.
 
Northern Illinois, which lost to Southern Illinois in the Compass Challenge title game in its last game, is led in scoring by Courtney Woods at 18.4 points per game.
 
Following Sunday's non-conference finale, Drake will host in-state rival UNI Jan.3 to start Missouri Valley Conference play. Tipoff against the Panthers is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.