DES MOINES, Iowa – Double-doubles from Grace Berg and Anna Miller helped the Drake women's basketball team turn back Bradley 71-60 at the Knapp Center on Thursday night, leaving the Bulldogs alone atop the Missouri Valley Conference – at least for now.
 
Berg scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her first double-double of the season, while Miller had 12 points and 12 rebounds for her eighth of the season. It was the 12th time this season the 6-foot-3 junior compiled 10 or more boards.
 
Two others just missed doubling up. Katie Dinnebier, coming off the second triple-double in program history, led the Bulldogs (17-5, 10-1 MVC) with 17 points and handed out nine assists. Courtney Becker, scoreless in the first half, finished with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting and pulled down nine rebounds.
 
With all that board work, Drake outrebounded the Braves 43-22 and outscored them 40-16 in the paint.
 
Drake won its seventh straight over Bradley (6-16, 2-9) and moved a half-game ahead of Belmont in the league standings. Belmont plays at Missouri State on Friday night.
 
Freshman Halli Poock, who was an all-state player at Waterloo West High School, led Bradley with 17 points and made five of the Braves' nine three-pointers.
 
While the Bulldogs never blew the game open, they scored just 11 seconds in and led throughout. They shot just 43.3 percent but got nine second-chance points and came up with eight steals.
 
Drake raced to an 11-0 lead, forcing an early Bradley timeout when Berg hit a trailing three from the top of the key to make it 9-0 after only 3 minutes. Shannon Fornshell followed with a hook shot to make it 11-0 before Poock knocked down back-to-back triples to get Bradley going.
 
Bradley got to within five before Fornshell scooped in a layup and Berg sank a free throw for a 20-12 lead at the quarter break. The Braves scored the first five points of the second quarter, but Drake answered, running off 10 straight points in a burst that included threes by Ashley Iiams and Taylor McAulay and stretched the lead to 30-17.
 
Bradley clawed back again to trail just 35-29 at the half, but another Drake run pushed the lead back to double figures. Becker scored on a putback, Dinnebier fed Berg for a layup and Becker scored again after posting up and taking a pass from Berg, making it 41-29.
 
The Bulldogs never led by more than 14 points after that but never were in serious danger. Bradley cut the lead to 60-55 midway through the fourth quarter but got no closer. Becker's 3 from the left corner on a feed for Dinnebier and Dinnebier's driving layup keyed a 7-0 run that put it out of reach at 67-55.
 
"We did what we needed to do to secure a win at home," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said. "I don't know if I'm excited to go back and watch [the film of] this, but there's a number of takeaways, both good and bad, to reflect upon and get the sense of what exactly we can improve upon."
 
Next up for the Bulldogs: A chance to avenge their only league loss. Illinois State visits the Knapp Center on Saturday for a 2 p.m. start. The Redbirds beat Drake 79-70 in Normal on Jan. 27.

 
NOTES
 

• The win improved Drake's record moved to 17-5 overall and 10-1 in the MVC.
• Drake improved to 10-2 at home this season.
• The Bulldogs never trailed in the game.
• The win got Drake back to .500 (3-3) when playing on Saturday this season.
• Drake shot 12-for-32 from three-point range for its seventh game with double-digit made treys.
• The Bulldogs' eight blocks matched their single-game high as a team this season.
• Drake outrebounded Bradley 43-22, improving to 13-3 this season when collecting more rebounds than their opponents.
• Katie Dinnebier accumulated over half of Drake's 17 assists tonight with nine helpers while leading the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points, her 20th double-digit scoring game of the season.
• Grace Berg grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds to pair with 14 points for her first double-double of the season. 
• With 12 points and 12 rebounds, Anna Miller earned her eighth double-double of the season.
• Miller has registered 12 double-digit rebounding games this season including six of 12 or more. 
• Courtney Becker was one rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points (6-8 from the field) and nine rebounds.
• Dinnebier, Becker, Berg and Miller combined for 57 of Drake's 71 points.
• Drake leads the all-time series against Bradley, 69-18.
• The Bulldogs have won the last seven meetings against the Braves.