PEORIA, Ill. – Drake women's basketball overcame a sluggish start on the road to take down a much-improved Bradley Braves team on Friday night. The Bulldogs chipped away at a first half deficit and flourished over the final 20 minutes to earn a 67-63 victory, their eighth in a row.
Bradley (8-7, 2-2) scored the first points of the evening after an empty Drake possession to start the night. The two teams probed through the initial stages and were deadlocked at 10-all at the game's first media timeout. Bradley jumped in front after the pause with back-to-back-to-back triples from Soleil Barnes and Tamia Perryman, giving the Braves a 19-10 lead.
 
Bradley finished the first quarter with six made 3-pointers while Drake (10-5, 4-0) went 0-for-6 from deep. The Braves held their 19-10 advantage after the opening 10 minutes of action.
 
Perryman, one of three Bradley players to score six points in the first quarter, picked things right up for the Braves to start the second with a pair of physical finishes over Abbie Aalsma. With just over eight minutes remaining in the half, Aalsma connected on the Bulldogs' first trey of the game, prompting a short 5-0 run for the Dogs.
 
Drake trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but the refocused Bulldogs erased that deficit before halftime as two Anna Miller freebies knotted the score at 32 apiece. Dinnebier then answered a Bradley three with one of her own to keep it tied, and the Braves' attempt at a buzzer beater did not fall. The teams trotted off the court to their respective locker rooms all square at 35.
 
The Bulldogs quickly grabbed the lead out of the halftime break as Shannon Fornshell scored four points in a hurry, forcing a Bradley timeout. Courtney Becker added to Drake's second-half spurt with a deuce of her own as the Bulldogs really started clicking.
 
Bradley was able to weather the Bulldog storm to start the third quarter and claw back to tie the game at 46 on another Barnes 3-pointer. Dinnebier did not blink, though, grabbing control of the third period's final minute to lift Drake to a 50-46 lead after three.
 
The Drake lead again ballooned as the fourth quarter got underway. The difference eventually reached 15 points midway through the period, but the Braves did not fold. Bradley's deficit got back under 10 after a lengthy Barnes triple, and things stayed that way down the stretch.
 
Perryman later converted an old fashioned 3-point play with just under a minute left on the clock and Drake turned it over on the ensuing inbound. Bradley got another late boost when Kaylen Nelson hit three free throws to make it 64-60, Drake. The Bulldogs held on despite the Braves' late charge to win, 67-63.
 
"We [found a way to] get out of here with more points than they had," said Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman. "Ava Hawthorne made a couple free throws late to take a bit of pressure off our defense at the end. We did a lot of adjusting on the fly because of matchups, but the biggest takeaway is that we fought and scrapped as much as we could. We came out of the locker room [at halftime] inspired. We got paint points and took advantage of mismatches and forced difficult shots…there's your formula there."
 
Katie Dinnebier enjoyed her sixth 20-plus scoring game of the season with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting. She tallied eight steals to mark a career best and doled out 7 assists while snaring five rebounds. With her 26 points, Dinnebier became just the 16th player in program history to eclipse 1,600 points for her career.
 
Forward Courtney Becker posted her fourth double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds. She added four steals to set a new career best. Anna Miller rounded out Drake's double-digit scorers with 10. She narrowly missed a double-double of her own with nine boards. Shannon Fornshell had a productive night on the inside with six rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs will be off tomorrow before wrapping up their tour of central Illinois on Sunday with a visit to Illinois State. Drake and the Redbirds are set for a 2 p.m. tip on Jan. 12.
 
 
NOTES

• Drake, winning a season-best seventh straight game, improves to 10-5 including a 4-0 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• This marked the third time during Allison Pohlman's coaching career that Drake has won eight straight games
• Drake posted its 18th straight MVC victory (including postseason play).
• Friday's win was Drake's first of the season when scoring fewer than 70 points.
• Drake made just four 3-point shots in Friday's win, matching their single-game low for the year.
• The Bulldogs' 14 steals are the second most in a single-game this season.
• Katie Dinnebier enjoyed her sixth 20-plus scoring game of the season with 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting. She tallied eight steals to mark a career best and doled out 7 assists while snaring five rebounds.
• Dinnebier entered today's game ranked No. 18 on the Drake career scoring list and moved up to No. 16 with 1,601 passing Tammi Blackstone (1,581, 1996-00), and Kiersten Miller (1,598, 1994-98).
• Dinnebier became just the 16th player in program history to eclipse 1,600 points for her career.
• Forward Courtney Becker posted her fourth double-double of the year with 11 points and 11 rebounds. She added four steals to set a new career best.
• Anna Miller rounded out Drake's double-digit scorers with 10. She narrowly missed a double-double of her own with nine boards.
• Shannon Fornshell had a productive night on the inside with six rebounds.
• Drake, winning its eighth straight game against the Braves, improved its series record against Valparaiso to 70-18 including a 30-11 mark away from Des Moines.