SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drake University women's basketball team travels to No. 20/18 Missouri State Friday night at 7 p.m. in the first game of a challenging opening weekend of Missouri Valley Conference road play. The Bulldogs close their first MVC road trip at Southern Illinois Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+ and on the radio on 1350 ESPN Des Moines.
 
Drake (9-4, 1-0 MVC) and Missouri State (12-2, 2-0 MVC) resume their longtime rivalry after facing each other three times last season. The Lady Bears won two of those three games, including the MVC Tournament Championship game. The Bulldogs, which won the 2019 MVC regular season title, hold a slight edge in the all-time series at 44-43. Each team played challenging non-conference schedules as Missouri State has the No. 2 RPI while Drake is No. 25.
 
Drake started league play with a dominant 104-87 win over in-state rival UNI at the Knapp Center. The Bulldogs scored a season best and the most points against an MVC opponent since 107 against Evansville in 2018 helped by a scorching third-quarter when it scored a season-best 34 points. Becca Hittner poured in a season-high and career-equaling 37 points, including making 18-of-18 from the free throw line. It is the sixth career 30-plus scoring performance for Hittner, who increased her scoring average to 17.4 points per game (5^th in MVC). Sara Rhine went 8-for-8 from the field for 16 points as leads the MVC in scoring at 18.6 points.
 
Missouri State collected road wins at Loyola and Valparaiso in its first weekend of league play. The Lady Bears are No. 2 in scoring at 77.6 ppg behind the Bulldogs (82.0) and are led in scoring by senior Alexa Willard who is third in the MVC at 17.9 points. Amaka Agugua-Hamilton is in her first season as head coach at MSU.
 
SIU (9-4, 1-1 MVC), who will host UNI Friday night, went 1-1 on opening weekend of conference play. The Salukis beat Valpo and then were edged by Loyola, 51-49. Junior Makenzie Silvey is fourth in the Valley in scoring at 17.5 points.
 
Following its first MVC road swing, Drake returns home against Indiana State Jan. 17.