DES MOINES, Iowa – Abbie Aalsma picked up in the new year right where she left off in the old and helped keep the Drake women's basketball team unbeaten in Missouri Valley Conference play.
 
Coming off a career-high 30-point performance in a win at UIC to close out 2025, Aalsma started the 2026 calendar year with 29 to lead the Bulldogs to an 89-75 victory over Southern Illinois to reach a major milestone at the Knapp Center on Friday night.
 
It was victory No. 1,000 for the Drake program, which began in the 1974-75 season and has more wins than any other MVC team.
 
Drake reached that number by hitting the Salukis with an impressive display of passing, cutting and driving to the basket in winning for the third time in four games, improving to 4-9 overall and 3-0 in the Valley.
 
Aalsma was at the forefront of that sharp offense, constantly breaking down the defense with drives to the hoop and adding three 3-pointers while making 12 of 19 shots. And she got plenty of help as the Bulldogs posted their second-highest point total of the season.
 
Freshman Anna Becker added 13 points, handed out a career-high seven assists and grabbed five rebounds. Sophomore Maggie Taylor went 5-for-7 from the field in scoring 12 points to go with six rebounds and freshman Quinn Vice logged her first collegiate double-double with 11 points and a career-best 12 rebounds.
 
Drake outrebounded the Salukis 48-34, amassed 24 assists on 35 field goals and built an overwhelming 58-24 edge in points in the paint. The Bulldogs shot a sizzling 71 percent in the fourth quarter (12-for-17) to finish at 53 percent for the game.
 
Southern Illinois (3-9, 0-3) led by as many as eight points in the first half and was up 40-39 at the break. But the Salukis never found a way to keep the Drake players from getting to the basket and the Bulldogs dominated the second half, outscoring SIU 50-35.
 
Drake went ahead to stay with a 9-0 run that produced a 48-42 lead with 6:34 left in the third quarter. All four baskets in that burst were layups with Becker getting two of them, the second on a sweet high-low pass from Vice that made it 47-42.
 
The Salukis stayed within striking distance and trailed just 55-53 when Indya Green sank two free throws with 3:04 remaining in the quarter. They never got any closer.
 
Taylor fed Becker for a layup and then Becker returned the favor, finding Taylor in the lane for a turnaround shot that made it 59-53. Grace Knutson, who finished with eight points and three assists, dropped in a pair of free throws for a 61-55 lead at the end of the quarter before Lexi Carlsen buried a trey to start the fourth quarter and give the Bulldogs their biggest lead to that point, 64-55.
 
A succession of layups, including two straight by Vice on cuts to the basket, stretched the lead to 77-66, and Aalsma's final basket of the night, a 3-pointer, made it 85-73 and basically sealed the victory. The game ended on a fitting note, the Bulldogs working the clock until Carlsen found a back-cutting Becker for a final layup with 10 seconds to play.
 
Aalsma set the tone early when she knocked down a triple for Drake's first points a little more than a minute into the game. A Becker layup and a three from Vice put the Bulldogs up 8-4, but they hit a cold spell and were just 3-for-10 at the first media timeout, the score tied at eight. They made their final five shots of the period, however, and took an 18-16 lead in the second quarter.
 
Drake then managed only one basket in the first 5:25 of the second period and SIU rattled off seven straight points to open a 31-24 lead. Jeniah Thompson's 3-point play gave the Salukis their biggest lead of the half, 36-28, before an 11-2 Drake run that Ava Hawthorne capped with a trey pulled the Bulldogs into a 39-38 lead. Seconds later, Alayna Kraus banked in a shot high off the glass to give SIU its one-point lead at the half.
 
Green scored 20 points and Kraus had 18 to lead the Salukis, who got only two points for their bench and lost to Drake for the sixth straight time.
 
"It was a game of ebbs and flows," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said. "Southern Illinois went on a couple runs in the first half, we managed a couple runs and got some momentum into halftime. We came out ready to go and I was so pleased with that. Forced them to take a timeout and executed will in specific moments. Really nice to get back to the Knapp Center and feed off a great crowd and do what we need to do."
 
Drake goes back out on the road for its next two games, playing at Belmont on Friday, Jan. 9 and at Murray State on Sunday, Jan. 11. The Belmont game tips at 6:30 p.m. and the Murray State contest at 2 p.m.
 
 
Notes

• With the win, Drake improved to 4-9 overall and 3-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play.
• Drake outrebounded the Salukis, 48-34.
• The Bulldogs also doled out 24 assists to SIU's 10.
• Drake's win marked the program's 1,000 all-time victory. The Bulldogs are just the 37th team in NCAA history to record at least 1,000 wins.
• The Bulldogs' 1,000 all-time wins are also the most by any team in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Abbie Aalsma nearly matched her career best from earlier in the week with 29 points.
• Aalsma also grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists.
• Anna Becker, Maggie Taylor, and Quinn Vice all added double digits with 13, 12, and 11, respectively.
• Becker had a career high seven assists.
• Vice logged her first career double-double with a team-high 12 rebounds.
• Drake has now won six straight against SIU and leads the all-time series by a 71-30 margin.