DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team starts a season-long homestand Friday night when Valparaiso visits the Knapp Center for a 6 p.m. Missouri Valley Conference game. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and broadcast on the radio on 1350 ESPN Des Moines.
 
Drake (13-6, 5-2 MVC), which will play its next four games at home, will wear special Des Moines themed uniforms Friday as part of its Des Moines' Hometown Team Weekend. The first 1,000 fans through the doors will receive a special jersey rally towel.
 
Drake looks to bounce back from a 77-76 road loss at first-place Bradley. This season, the Bulldogs' two league losses have been by just a combined three points. The other narrow defeat came at Missouri State, 69-67, on a buzzer-beating three-pointer.
 
Becca Hittner scored a game-high 29 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Sara Rhine added 16 points and six rebounds. Rhine is just 12 points from reaching the impressive 2,000-point milestone. She will be just the fifth Drake women's basketball player to reach the mark and ninth in MVC history. Also impressive is Rhine has 108 double figure scoring games in 126 career games while Hittner has 107 in 116 career games. Hittner and Rhine are the Valley's top two leading scorers at 17.8 and 17.6 points, respectively.
 
Valparaiso (11-7, 3-4 MVC) makes the trip to Des Moines for the first game of the season series between the teams. The Bulldogs and Crusaders have already played six times in the two seasons Valpo has been in the Valley with Drake winning all six. The Crusaders overcame an 11-point deficit in the final three minutes to edge Loyola (13-5, 4-3 MVC), 66-64, in their last game.
 
Loyola visits UNI Friday night looking to snap an eight-game losing streak to the Panthers. Junior Abby Conner is the leading scorer for Loyola at 14.1 points per game.
 
Drake and Loyola will play Super Bowl Sunday with tipoff set for 2 p.m. at the Knapp Center.