The 2019-20 Drake University women's basketball senior trio of
Becca Hittner,
Sara Rhine and
Brenni Rose were featured in the final #SeniorNight segment on ESPN's SportsCenter hosted by Scott Van Pelt on Friday, April 10.
After the abrupt cancellation of the NCAA men's and women' basketball tournaments in March due the coronavirus outbreak in the United States as well as countless conference tournaments being cancelled, including the Missouri Valley Conference's Women's Basketball's tournament. Van Pelt wanted a way to celebrate the high school and college seniors whose careers' came to a sudden and heartbreaking end on his nightly show. He took to social media and sent out a tweet to his more than 2 million followers.
"I just sent a tweet," Van Pelt told the
Washington Post back in March. "Don't really know how it manifests itself from there. I have no idea how long we will do it. I have no idea what it will look like. They will be providing content, which we will clearly be lacking. But what we get out of it is what we can give: the spotlight to share their story. Based on the initial response, it seems there will be no shortage of worthy stories to share."
Van Pelt's initial tweet resulted in more than 1,000 replies in the first three hours. On Friday, April 10, Van Pelt replied to the Drake's women's basketball's twitter account that Hittner, Rhine and Rose would be featured that night in the final #SeniorNight airing on the 10:30 p.m. SportsCenter.
Mr. Van Pelt did a wonderful job highlighting how special this three amazing women are. Drake women's basketball, Drake University, Des Moines community and all of their fans and supporters are so proud of these three seniors and grateful they were part of this awesome salute by ESPN and Mr. Van Pelt!
