EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The Drake women's basketball team picked up a compelling road win over Evansville this evening to add to their already historic season. The Bulldogs trounced UE 86-53 to improve to 18-1 in league play and secure the outright regular season MVC championship.
 
The win was also Drake's 10th in a row, marking the longest victory streak in Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman's tenure.
 
Grace Berg finally broke a scoreless start of nearly two minutes with the game's first basket, a three from the left wing. Drake (25-5, 18-1) then got two more on a Taylor McAulay score following two precise passes from Berg and Anna Miller.
 
Berg later buried another three over top of an active zone defense by Evansville. Katie Dinnebier joined in with a triple from nearly the exact same spot as Berg's first two makes. She scored the next four for the Bulldogs to give Drake its first double-digit lead of the night at 15-5.
 
Drake led 18-7 after the first quarter. It was the seventh time this season that the Bulldogs held their opponents to a single digit scoring total in a quarter.
 
The Drake domination continued in the second period as Ashley Iiams came on and buried a transition three after an assist from Brooklin Dailey. The two reserves teamed up to give the Dogs a 28-9 advantage and force an Evansville (4-26, 2-17) timeout.
 
The Aces were able to chip away a bit at Drake's healthy advantage as the clock ticked towards halftime. Kynidi Mason Striverson rattled in a corner three and took a charge on the opposite end to firmly grasp the momentum. Drake struggled over this stretch, going scoreless for over three minutes until a pair of Dinnebier freebies halted the cold streak.
 
Dinnebier came through again with a deep three off the glass as the first half horn sounded to give Drake a 40-22 halftime lead. Dinnebier led all scorers with 17 points at the break.
 
The Bulldogs built on their buzzer-beating play to end the first half as their rout continued in the third period. Drake, using their patented blistering pace, ripped off a 7-0 run over just 45 seconds of game time to grab a 23-point lead, its largest of the game up to that point.
 
Grace Berg keyed the Bulldogs down the stretch of the third quarter, eventually hitting the 20-point mark on the night. Drake led 61-37 after three.
 
Drake bested their largest lead of the game with three-straight deep balls, the first from Brooklin Dailey for her first score of the evening, and two in transition from Courtney Becker. That trio of treys extended Drake's lead to 34 points with just over six minutes to play.
 
The fourth quarter concluded moments later with Drake's massive advantage intact. The Bulldogs left Meeks Family Fieldhouse with an 86-53 victory to secure sole possession of the MVC title. It marks the eighth outright regular season conference championship in program history and first since 2019.
 
Katie Dinnebier led all scorers with 25 points followed by Grace Berg's 22. Dinnebier also dished out eight assists to lead the game. She surpassed the 500-career assist mark in Thursday's win, becoming just the seventh player in program history to do so.
 
Drake's double-digit scorers were rounded by Courtney Becker with 13 points and Anna Miller with 12. Miller saw her streak of five-straight double-doubles end, but still led the Bulldogs on the glass with six boards along with four blocks.
 
As a team, Drake's persistent defensive effort forced 15 turnovers, a season high for the squad.
 
"It's easy to get overly critical, especially this time of year," Pohlman said. "We're not expecting perfection, but you want to watch their chemistry and their confidence grow and what we see every day in practice shine through and we did that. Being able to come on the road and show up the way we did…I loved our energy. We executed extremely, extremely well."
 
The Bulldogs will wrap up their regular season this weekend with a trip to Terre Haute, Ind. and a meeting with Indiana State. The Bulldogs and Sycamores will tip off at noon.
 
NOTES

• Drake, earning its 10th straight win, improved to 25-5 overall while clinching the outright Missouri Valley Conference regular season title with a league record of 18-1.
• The first quarter marked the seventh time this season that Drake has held their opponent to a single digit scoring total in a quarter this season and first time since limiting Valpo to seven points in the second period (1/12).
• Drake swiped 15 steals as a team for a new single-game high this season.
• This marked the 10th time in Drake program history the Bulldogs have won 25 or more games in a season.
• The 25 victories are the most by the Bulldogs in a season since the 2018-19 Drake team posted a 27-7 record.
• This marked the 20th time Drake has won a game by double figures this season, including the 12th MVC contest.
• This also marked the third time in program history Drake has won 18 or more games in the MVC. The two previous 18-win league seasons came in back-to-back undefeated MVC campaigns from 2016-18.
• Drake earned its 10th road win of the season.
• Drake outrebounded Evansville, 39-38.
• Drake improved its record to 22-1 when leading at halftime.
• Katie Dinnebier led the game in scoring with 25 points. She added eight assists to lead all players.
• Dinnebier surpassed the 500-career assists threshold, becoming one of just seven Bulldogs to do so.
• Grace Berg went for 22 points and made four three-pointers on five attempts. It was her 11th game this season with multiple treys.
• Courtney Becker added 13 points on 3-of-4 three-point shooting.
• Anna Miller rounded out Drake's double-digit foursome with 12 points. She is now just eight points shy of 1,000 for her career.
• Drake, winning its 18th straight game against Evansville, improved to 53-14 in the series against the Purple Aces including an 23-7 mark in away from home.