CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team closes the regular season at UNI Friday night. Tipoff of the Missouri Valley Conference in-state game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
After its 2-0 road trip last weekend with wins over Loyola and Valparaiso, Drake (22-7, 14-3 MVC) locked up at least the No. 2 seed for the MVC Tournament March 12-15 in Moline, Ill. No. 23 Missouri State is in front of Drake in the standings with a 14-2 record in MVC action. The Lady Bears close their regular season at home against Valpo on Thursday night and Loyola Saturday afternoon. Drake needs to win at UNI (17-11, 9-8 MVC) and have Missouri State lose both games to secure its fourth-straight outright MVC regular season title. A Bulldogs' win over the Panthers and the Lady Bears splitting their final two games would give the MVC co-champions. If the two teams share the title, Missouri State will be the No. 1 seed and Drake the two seed in Moline based off its sweep of the season series. Two Lady Bears' wins secures them the outright title.
Drake and UNI played on Jan. 3 at the Knapp Center to start league action for both teams. It was a high-scoring contest after the Bulldogs broke open a close game with a scorching third-quarter and won by a score of 104-87. Junior Karli Rucker, who scored her 1,000
th career point in the Panthers' victory at Loyola Sunday, leads the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game.
Drake senior guard
Becca Hittner nearly averaged a double-double in the victories over Loyola and Valparaiso. She averaged 22.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 48.0 percent (12-of-25) from the floor and 50.0 percent (6-of-12) from beyond the arc. Hittner won her second MVC Player of the Week honor this season and the eighth in her career for her great performances. Hittner is the second-straight Bulldog to win the MVC's top weekly award after teammate
Sara Rhine claimed it last week.
Junior guard
Maddie Monahan also had an outstanding road trip, averaging 15.0 points, 3.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.0 rebounds while shooting 40.0 percent from three, a blistering 63.6 percent from the floor and most impressive she made 14-of-16 (87.5 percent) from the free throw line. Monahan was clutch in the fourth quarter of each win, scoring nine points in the fourth at Loyola and making 6-of-6 from the free throw line for six critical fourth-quarter points at Valpo, including two late free throws to give Drake a 4-point lead with four seconds left. She finished with 12 points in the Loyola win and 18 in the Valpo win. Graduate forward
Monica Burich was a key contributor off the Bulldogs' bench in each win over the weekend. Burich averaged 8.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in 16.0 average minutes. She teamed with Monahan for a big fourth quarter in Chicago with seven points and five rebounds. Despite battling foul trouble against the Crusaders, Burich had seven points, including converting a huge and-one in the fourth quarter with just over six minutes that helped erase a four-point deficit.
Following Friday's regular season finale, Drake travels to Moline for the 2020 MVC Tournament, March 12-15 at the TaxSlayer Center. Visit
www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com Saturday evening for the Bulldogs' opponent, game time and other details after the tournament bracket is finalized and announced.
