DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team returns to the Knapp Center for a two-game Missouri Valley Conference homestand this weekend.
Drake (10-5, 2-1 MVC) welcomes Indiana State (2-14, 0-4 MVC) Friday night for a 6 p.m. contest while Evansville (3-12, 0-4 MVC) visits Sunday at 2 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+ and on the radio on 1350 ESPN Des Moines.
The Bulldogs are at the halfway point of the regular season after they split their first MVC road swing at then No. 20 Missouri State and Southern Illinois. Drake had its impressive 29-game league road winning streak stopped last Friday by the Lady Bears as Sydney Manning made a three-pointer as time expired to escape with a 69-67 win. However, the Bulldogs bounced back Sunday beating SIU, 73-65. Drake hasn't lost back-to-back MVC games since the 2015-16 season when it lost at Indiana State and UNI.
Drake has featured a balanced scoring attack in early league play with seven Bulldogs averaging 5.3 or more points per game.
Becca Hittner leads the group with an impressive 24.3 scoring clip followed by
Sara Rhine's 16.3 average.
Monica Burich and
Kierra Collier are each averaging 9.0 points while
Brenni Rose (6.7), Maddie Negaard (6.3) and
Maddie Monahan (5.3) round out the group.
Indiana State has an entire new roster this season with 14 student-athletes, the most newcomers in Division I, and includes six junior college transfers and eight freshmen. The Sycamores are the second-best offensive rebounding team in the MVC averaging 12.8 per game.
A pair of newcomers, Abby Feit and Lola Bracy, lead Evansville in scoring at 14.4 and 14.3 points per game, respectively. They are part of a group of eight newcomers on the Purple Aces' roster this year. Jamyra McChristine is
Following this weekend's homestand, Drake travels to central Illinois for a pair of MVC road contests starting at Illinois State on Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs end the trip at Bradley on Jan. 26 at 2 p.m.
