DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team hosts its final regular season games this week at the Knapp Center.
Drake (23-5, 15-1 MVC) starts the homestand Thursday night against Illinois State (17-10, 10-6 MVC) at 6 p.m. before Bradley (20-7, 10-6 MVC) visits Saturday for senior day at 2 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
The Bulldogs return home coming off hard-fought road wins over SIU and Missouri State. The win over the Lady Bears puts Drake in sole possession of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. The Bulldogs can win their third straight and ninth overall MVC regular season title with wins over the Redbirds and the Braves.
Drake held double-digit leads over both Missouri State and SIU, but each of the home teams cut their deficits to single digits. The Salukis pulled to within two points several times and the Lady Bears to within three, but each time the Bulldogs answered with a clutch basket or key free throws to extend their advantage back to multiple possessions. Drake has a Valley-high 12 road wins this season and is one of 36 teams currently with 10 or more road wins.
Following the game against the Braves, Drake will honor its outstanding 2018-19 senior class of
Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.),
Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.),
Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) and
Nicole Miller (Walker, Iowa). Bachrodt and Dean each played a key role in one of the Bulldogs' road wins. Bachrodt scored 17 points, including the first 11 points of the third quarter, in the Missouri State victory. Dean netted 19 points against SIU, including scoring nine of Drake's first 11 points on three three-pointers, and made her final three-ball late to hold off the Salukis. Jonas played her most minutes in back-to-back game since returning from injury five games ago while Miller pulled down a season-high six rebounds and added three assists in the SIU win.
Together the four have played in 489 career games, scored 4,289 points, posted five consecutive 20-win seasons and won 120 games and four MVC titles. They have played in the postseason every year, including the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons. The group has won numerous on-and-off the court awards and their names are found among many of the all-time statistical leaders at Drake.
Bradley and Illinois State are tied in fourth place in the MVC standings. The Redbirds have won seven of its past eight games with its lone loss to the Braves on Feb. 22. Illinois State has its most wins since the 2013-14 (24-11) season while Bradley has its most victories since finishing 2008-09 with a school record 21 victories (21-10). Bradley visits third-place UNI (18-10, 11-5 MVC) Friday and Illinois State closes its road trip in Cedar Falls Sunday afternoon.
Following the conclusion of the regular season, Drake travels to Moline, Ill. for the 2019 MVC Tournament held at the TaxSlayer Center. The Bulldogs locked up a top two seed for the tournament and will play their first game March 15 at 12 or 6 p.m.
