DES MOINES, Iowa – After the annual Des Moines' Hometown Team Weekend started with two tense games, the Drake women's basketball team gave Bulldog fans a chance to sit back from the edge of their seats.
 
Katie Dinnebier scored 15 points and became just the second Missouri Valley Conference player with 700 career assists as Drake rolled past Bradley 72-52 at the Knapp Center on Sunday afternoon. Dinnebier finished with 10 assists for her sixth double-double of the season and tacked on five rebounds and three steals to help the Bulldogs (15-8, 9-3) to their fourth straight victory. Drake now has nine straight wins over Bradley (9-14, 3-9) and owns a 37-6 edge over the Braves in Des Moines.
 
Three other Drake starters scored in double figures and the Bulldogs also got good production from their players off the bench, who outscored the Bradley reserves 15-9.
 
Drake teams went 3-0 during the weekend. The women had to rally late to beat Illinois State 79-74 on Friday night and Indiana State took the Drake men into overtime on Saturday, but the Bulldogs pulled out an 85-81 victory.
 
Dinnebier now has 708 assists in her career and trails only former Drake star Caitlin Ingle on the league's career list. Ingle handed out 786 assists while playing from 2013-17. Dinnebier is just third on Drake's career list because Connie Newlin had 767 while the Bulldogs were playing in the Gateway Conference.
 
Anna Miller added 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Bulldogs, while Courtney Becker and Abbie Aalsma each scored 10, Becker going 5-for-7 from the field and Aalsma 4-for-5 with two 3-pointers. The fifth starter, Shannon Fornshell, scored nine points on 4-for-5 shooting and played solid defense.
 
Aalsma has played especially well of late. She has averaged 14.3 points over the last four games while shooting 58.3 percent, including 14-for-26 from 3-point range.
 
Drake shot 56.7 percent in building a 41-28 halftime lead and finished at 50.8 percent. The Bulldogs went 9-for-22 on 3-pointers against the team leading the Valley in 3-point percentage defense (.256) and outscored the Braves 42-18 in the paint.
 
At the other end, Drake held Bradley to 35 percent shooting and limited the Braves to three field goals in the fourth quarter. Drake finished the game with a 12-2 run to record its sixth conference victory by at least 20 points.
 
Kaylen Nelson scored 13 points and Soleil Barnes added 12 for Bradley, which gave the Bulldogs all they could handle in a 67-63 Drake victory in Peoria last month.
 
Dinnebier entered the game with 699 assists, and it didn't take long for her to reach 700. She fed Miller for a layup 70 seconds into the game, giving Drake a 4-2 lead. The Bulldogs led the rest of the way.
 
In quick succession, Dinnebier set up Fornshell and Miller again for layups, sank two free throws and hit a step-back trey. The quarter ended with Drake ahead 19-11 and Dinnebier accounting for 13 of those points – five that she scored and eight coming on her assists.
 
Ava Hawthorne, Aalsma and Fornshell knocked down 3-pointers to lift the Bulldogs into a 31-20 lead. A Becker layup and a trey from Ashley Iiams gave Drake its biggest lead of the half, 41-24, before Bradley made it a 14-point game at the break.
 
Drake's lead fell below double figures only once in the second half and for barely more than 30 seconds. Bradley scored the final five points of the third quarter to draw to 55-44 and Barnes buried a three from the right corner to make it 55-47 with less than a minute into the four quarter. But they got no closer.
 
Brooklin Dailey banked in a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer with 8:30 to go and Becker stole the ball and took it in for a layup for a 60-47 lead. A Bradley triple drew the Braves to 60-50, but that was their last gasp.
 
Fornshell's layup on a nice high-low feed from Miller started Drake's finishing flurry, which included Miller's three-point play off a layup and a Dinnebier 3-pointer before the Bulldogs' reserves finished the game.
 
"[We] leaned into the consistency of some different people off the bench…they came in confidently and made an impact on the game," said Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman. "The other team's approach changes when we have various people scoring. Thrilled with the number of contributions. At halftime, we'd taken 20 layups, which is fantastic…we did a nice job of being able to throw of their timing which led to some of those easier baskets."
 
 
Drake, tied with Murray State for third in the league standings, will have a chance to break that stalemate when it plays at Murray on Friday night, a game that tips at 6 o'clock. The Bulldogs then move on to league-leading Belmont for a 4 p.m. game on Sunday, Feb. 16.
 
 
NOTES

• Drake, winning its fourth straight game, improved to 15-8 overall, including a 9-3 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• This marks the 16th straight year Drake has won 15-plus games in a season.
• This marks the 12th straight year Drake has won nine or more games in the MVC.
• It also marked Drake's 13th victory by double figures this season
• Drake shot 50.8 percent (30-59) from the floor, pushing its record to 5-0 when shooting 50 percent or better.
• Drake held Bradley to just one basket in the final 4:15.
• Drake outrebounded Bradley, 38-32.
• Drake never trailed in the game and there was just one tie at 2-2.
• Senior guard Katie Dinnebier recorded her sixth double-double of the season (12th career) with a game-high 15 points and a game-high 10 assists along with a game-high three steals.
• It marked the sixth game this season Dinnebier had reached double figures in assists. 
• Dinnebier became the second player in Missouri Valley Conference history to collect 700-plus assists, pushing her career total to 709. 
• Dinnebier ranks third on the Drake career assist list, trailing only Connie Newlin (1978-82, 767) and Caitlin Ingle (2013-17, 786).
• Dinnebier made three three-point baskets, marking the 12th game this season she had made three-plus treys.
• Senior Anna Miller added 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds. 
• Graduate Courtney Becker and junior Abbie Aalsma each added 10 points. 
• Aalsma hit two three-point baskets, extending her streak to 12 straight games, making a three-point basket.
• Drake has won the last nine meetings against Bradley, owning a 71-18 lead in the series including a 37-6 mark in Des Moines.