DES MOINES, Iowa – The No. 22/23 Drake University women's basketball team led from start to finish in an 88-61 win over Illinois State Thursday night at the Knapp Center in front of 3,555 fans.
Drake (24-5, 16-1 MVC) shot 59.6 percent (31-of-52) from the floor, a blistering and season-high 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from behind the three-point line and 90.5 percent (19-of-21) from the free throw line.
Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) scored a game-high 23 points, handed out five assists and pulled down three rebounds while
Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) recorded her 12
th double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds for Drake (24-5, 16-1 MVC).
Maddie Monahan (Silver Lake, Minn.) added 12 points. Rhine equaled her career-high with three three-pointers. Hittner and Monahan each went 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
The Bulldogs held Illinois State (17-11, 10-7 MVC) to 31.7 percent from the floor and 21.4 percent from behind the three-point line. Tete Maggett scored 16 points while Simone Goods had 15 points and eight rebounds.
At the start of the game, Monahan and
Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) drilled back-to-back three-pointers followed by Hittner scoring the next six points. At the end of one quarter, Drake led 21-8, behind a balanced scoring attack as seven Bulldogs scored.
Drake increased its lead to 36-21 at halftime courtesy of a 9-0 closing run, coming from all layups. Monahan, who scored five during the ending run, had 8 points at the break. Hittner led all scorers with 12 points.
After halftime it was all Bulldogs as they led by as many as 31 points in the fourth quarter. Drake converted 15 Redbirds' turnovers into 28 points while they outscored them 42-28 in the paint. Bachrodt nabbed three steals to move to No. 2 all-time at Drake with 269, five away from Kay Riek (1981-84) school record of 274. Off the bench,
Monica Burich (Roseville, Minn.) scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds.
Following Thursday's game, Drake hosts Bradley Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regular season finale. Following the conclusion of the game, the Bulldogs will honor their four seniors, Bachrodt,
Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.),
Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) and
Nicole Miller (Walker, Iowa). The game will be streamed on ESPN+. A win Saturday will clinch a third-straight outright MVC regular season title for Drake, which secured a share of the title with Thursday's win.
