DEKALB, Ill. – The Drake University women's basketball team defeated Northern Illinois, 73-49, Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center in its final non-conference game.
Drake (8-4), which led nearly from start-to-finish, had four players finish in double figures.
Sara Rhine scored a game-high 18 points and pulled down six rebounds.
Brenni Rose recorded her first double-double of the season with 12 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Rose added four assists and two steals.
Maggie Negaard and
Becca Hittner each made three three-pointers and finished with 11 points and 10 points, respectively. Negaard dished out five assists while Hittner collected seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs held Northern Illinois (4-7) to its second lowest point total of the season. Myia Starks paced the Huskies with nine points. As a team, NIU shot 28.4 percent (21-of-74) from the floor and just 5-of-31 (16.1 percent) from beyond the arc.
Northern Illinois scored the game's first points but Hittner answered with her first three as Drake built an early 13-4 lead at the first media timeout behind hot-shooting, rebounding and capitalizing on Northern Illinois' turnovers. Drake led 15-12 after one quarter despite struggling to shoot the basketball after the first media timeout as it made just of 1-of-10 shots to end the quarter.
Drake's shooting heated up in the second period as five different Bulldogs in Hittner, Negaard, Rhine, Rose and
Allie Wooldridge each made a three-pointer. The Bulldogs closed the quarter on a 12-4 scoring run to take a 38-24 into the break. Their defense held the Huskies to 33.3 percent shooting, including 0-of-5 from three.
Starks made a three-pointer midway through the third quarter that trimmed the margin to 10 points. However, Drake countered with an 8-0 run that started with a three by Negaard. Later, the Bulldogs would lead by as many as 25 points in their first road win of the season.
Drake outrebounded NIU, 57-42, but struggled with turnovers committing 23. However, the Huskies scored just 13 points off the miscues as the Bulldogs forced 20 turnovers and scored 29 points off the turnovers. Rhine helped Drake outscore Northern Illinois, 32-20, in the paint and Negaard's scoring helped the Bulldogs' bench finish with 22 points.
Following Sunday's game, Drake starts Missouri Valley Conference against in-state rival UNI on Friday, Jan. 3 inside the Knapp Center. Tipoff with the Panthers is scheduled for 6 p.m.
