By HANNAH COHEN
Drake women’s basketball added two more wins to their MVC record (10-1) this weekend on the road versus Valparaiso (MVC 2-8) and Loyola (MVC 4-7) dominating both teams with leads of over at least 25 points. The Bulldogs first traveled to Indiana and got an 88-62 dub and led the whole game getting at least 21 points per quarter on Friday, Feb. 8.
Becca Hittner, guard, and Sara Rhine, forward, topped the stats yet again for Drake with Nicole Miller, guard, and Brenni Rose, guard/forward, providing the assists. Miller also registered a career high of 8 assists in this matchup.
“For us and the system we play, assists are really important,” Hittner said. “The way we shared the ball was really fun.”
As MVC Player of the Week, Hittner stood up to her role in both matches scoring 23 against Valpo and 19 against the Ramblers. On top of that, in the game versus the Crusaders, all 12 of Drake’s able bench played at least six minutes, a first in the season thus far.
“It’s a cool honor,” Hittner said. “Again, it’s more of just focusing on the team and getting better every day as the season progresses [so I don’t pay too much attention to the titles].”
Ally Wooldridge, forward, added a layup to the Bulldog’s points and registered her high of 17 minutes playing time and one of the 10 players to score of all 12 that played.
“It was awesome to see everyone play who was able,” Grace Berg, forward, said. “Even though I can’t play yet, seeing everyone else get playing time and chances to score showed the amount of solid players we have.”
After the win in Indiana, Drake went to Chicago to face the Ramblers on Sunday, Feb. 10. The team crushed Loyola as Rhine made all shots out of 8 attempted including three 3s for the afternoon and Sammie Bachrodt, guard, landed two more 3-pointers making her record for the weekend just over .555.
“Sara and Sam performed really well against Valpo but especially Loyola,” Berg said. “It’s not often you see players have perfect games, and Sara did just that.”
Rhine’s flawless 1.000 performance against Loyola put an even stronger emphasis on her play and earning six MVC Player of the Week titles so far this season. She also collected eight rebounds on top of her team leading 23 points.
Other leaders in the game versus the Ramblers included Maddy Dean, guard, who put in three for seven of her 3-pointers and Bachrodt put up eight. The team altogether completed the game with 29 assists, a season record and tied their season best with 13 three-pointers, ending with a strong 83-55 win.
These two games were the last of Drake’s final road games in February. This Friday they take on third place University of Northern Iowa (MVC 8-3) in the Knapp at 6 p.m. to start the three-game season long homestand.
“Seeing everyone play strongly this weekend put an emphasis on how we play Drake basketball,” Berg said. “We want everyone to come support us this weekend and fill the Knapp to keep our momentum going.”
Photo courtesy of Hannah Cohen