DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team continues its season-long homestand Friday night when Southern Illinois visits the Knapp Center for a 6 p.m. Missouri Valley Conference game. Drake (15-6, 7-2 MVC) closes the homestand Sunday against No. 24/19 Missouri State at 2 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+ and on the radio on 1350 ESPN Des Moines.
 
Friday will be Spike Kid's Club Day while Sunday will be National Girls & Sports Day, Drake Faculty and Staff Appreciation Day and Stripe Out the Knapp (map and instructions above).
 
Drake collected home wins over Valparaiso and Loyola last weekend. The Bulldogs handed out an impressive 55 assists on 61 field goals. The big weekend of assists helped Drake move past No. 3 Oregon and be just behind No. 2 Baylor for the nation's second-most team assists total with 473. Brenni Rose ranks 15th nationally and leads the MVC with 5.5 per game.
 
Sara Rhine became the fifth Drake women's basketball player and ninth player in MVC history to score 2,000 career points in the Valpo win. Rhine joined the exclusive club with her final basket of the victory midway through the final quarter. Becca Hittner, who is seeking to join Rhine in the 2,000 club, moved to No. 7 all-time in career scoring in school history with 1,937 points. Hittner moved past Jill Martin (1,928) and Carla Bennett (1,930). Hittner leads the MVC in scoring at 17.7 points per game while Rhine is third at 17.2.
 
SIU (13-7, 5-4 MVC) has the second-best scoring defense in the league at 62.4 points per game. The Salukis only trailed by one point going into the final quarter of the first meeting of the teams on Jan. 12 in Carbondale, Ill. However, the Bulldogs scored five-straight points and kept it a multiple possession game the rest of the way for their first league road win. Junior Makenzie Silvey, who recently surpassed 1,000 career points, scores a team-high 16.4 points for the Salukis.
 
Missouri State (18-3, 8-1 MVC), which plays at UNI Friday, took sole possession of first place in the conference standings after wins over Bradley and Illinois State. The Lady Bears' Sydney Manning hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to escape with a 69-67 win in the first meeting with the Bulldogs on Jan. 10 in Springfield, Mo. Senior Alexa Willard is behind Hittner and in front of Rhine in scoring at 17.3 points. She is No. 3 in career points in the MVC behind the Drake pair with 1,397 career points.
 
Following this weekend, Drake starts a two-game road trip to Indiana with a Feb. 13 game at Evansville followed by game at Indiana State on Feb. 15.