DES MOINES, Iowa – A fast start and Grace Berg's 28 points helped the Drake women's basketball team avenge its only conference loss with a 79-64 victory over Illinois State at the Knapp Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bulldogs (18-5, 11-1 Missouri Valley Conference) led from the start in the annual Pink Game, took a 22-point lead into the second half and never faced a serious threat over the final 20 minutes. Drake has won three straight since a 79-70 loss at Illinois State two weeks ago and sits alone atop the conference.
 
Berg got the first basket of the game on a layup after Anna Miller grabbed an offensive rebound and slipped her a pass and kept scoring from there, falling two points shy of her career high. She knocked down two of the Bulldogs' five three-pointers, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out two assists.
 
Miller put up her second straight double-double and ninth of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Courtney Becker doubled up for the third time with 15 points – one short of her career best – and 10 rebounds.
 
Drake outrebounded the Redbirds 43-32, the 17th time the Bulldogs have won the battle on the boards, and outscored them 50-26 in the paint.
 
Katie Dinnebier finished with 10 points, eight assists and three steals and Ava Hawthorne gave the team a nice lift off the bench with seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Her spinning drive to the hoop put the Bulldogs up 20-10 after one quarter and was one of the highlights of the opening half.
 
DeAnna Wilson led Illinois State (14-8, 7-5) with 18 points and Abbie Aalsma scored 15 with a late burst of three-pointers. Drake held the Redbirds to 26.7 percent shooting in the first half. They finished at 38.7 percent for the game.
 
Berg had eight points less than three minutes into the game as Drake jumped to an 11-4 lead. Becker's two free throws and Hawthorne's drive gave the Bulldogs their 10-point lead at the quarter break, and they added to it with a quick burst to start the second quarter.
 
Berg scored on a putback, Taylor McAulay hit a runner on the baseline and Hawthorne buried a three, completing an 11-0 run that made it 27-10. The sequence leading to Hawthorne's trey was the slickest of the game. Miller sent a pass to Dinnebier under the basket and Katie, catching the ball and passing in one motion, fired it to Hawthorne on the left wing.
 
A string of eight straight points that included Hawthorne's steal and layup stretched the lead to 37-15 and Becker's spin down the lane for a layup put the Bulldogs up 42-20 at the half.
 
A rough patch in which Drake missed four straight shots and turned it over three times enabled Illinois State to draw to 52-37 midway through the third quarter. Miller stopped the bleeding with a free throw and Berg knocked down a three from the right wing for a 56-37 lead. It was 56-39 at the end of the quarter.
 
Megan Meyer collected her first basket at home since rejoining the team at the end of January, a trey that put the Bulldogs up 61-42. The Redbirds did get the lead down to 70-58 on Aalsma's third three-pointer of the quarter, but consecutive layups by Berg, Dinnebier and Becker put it out of reach.
 
"Huge thanks to Bulldog nation," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said after the game. "It was rocking in here and we love the pink. I credit our team too…we were as ready as we needed to be today. Illinois State is a really good shooting team, and our women just understood the coverages. We just did exactly what we needed to do to execute and get a win."
 
The Bulldogs hit the road for their next two games, at Murray State on Thursday, Feb. 15, and at Belmont on Saturday, Feb. 17. Their next home game is Thursday, Feb. 22 against Missouri State at 6 p.m.
 
 
NOTES
 

• The win improved Drake's record moved to 18-5 overall and 11-1 in the MVC.
• Drake improved to 11-2 at home this season.
• The Bulldogs never trailed in the game.
• Drake outrebounded Illinois State 42-33, improving to 14-3 this season when collecting more rebounds than their opponents.
• Grace Berg led all players with 28 points, just two short of her career high.
• Drake got two more double-doubles from Anna Miller and Courtney Becker. Miller's was her second consecutive and Becker's was her third of the season.
• Miller posted 10 points and 11 rebounds. Becker added 15 points, one shy of her career high, and 10 boards.
• Katie Dinnebier added 10 points to complete Drake's double-digit scorers. She also led the team with eight assists.
• Drake leads the all-time series against Illinois State, 52-40.
• The Bulldogs have won four of the last six meetings against the Redbirds.