Drake women's basketball team inches closer to MVC regular season title with win over UIC
About a week after the Drake women’s basketball team’s 2022-23 season ended, Bulldogs coach Allison Pohlman had individual meetings with her players. During the sit-downs, Pohlman asked her players what their goals were for the upcoming season.
One kept constantly coming up.
“I want to say probably 90% of them said a conference championship,” Pohlman said. “And that doesn’t mean winning the tournament. That means an outright conference championship.”
Drake took a big step toward accomplishing that goal Thursday night. The Bulldogs won their eighth-straight game and improved to 23-5 on the season and 16-1 in Missouri Valley Conference play with an 84-63 victory over UIC at the Knapp Center.
Drake can clinch at least a share of the regular season conference crown with a victory over Valparaiso on Saturday.
“I think that’s always been our goal and I think the culture of Drake basketball has always been we’re here to win championships,” said Drake point guard Katie Dinnebier. “You see the banners that are up there and that’s why a lot of us come here.”
Second-place Belmont, which enters Friday's game against Indiana State with a 13-3 record, can help Drake secure an outright conference crown with a loss coupled with a Bulldogs victory Saturday. But Drake first had to take care of business at home Thursday night. That wasn’t much of an issue, with four players scoring in double figures.
Dinnebier finished with a game-high 18 points and six assists. Grace Berg added 17 points and four assists for Drake. Anna Miller chipped in with 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Courtney Becker followed with 11 points. The Bulldogs shot 57.9% (33-for-57) from the field including 45% (9-for-20) from 3-point range.
Drake led from start to finish after hitting five of its first six shots from the field. A 7-0 run capped off by a 3-pointer by Dinnebier gave Drake an 11-4 lead. That advantage grew even more with a 6-0 run after baskets by Becker, Miller and Ava Hawthorne in the second quarter.
“I think this team has always known that they can shoot the ball extremely, extremely well,” Pohlman said. “But I think what we did is, we didn’t force any shots, we took what was available, we made the extra passes and then sometimes you get a little bit better of a feel to be able to make baskets.”
Drake led 41-26 at the half and rolled from there. That set the stage for what could be a Saturday full of celebrations. The game will be the final regular season home contest for the Bulldogs, who will celebrate senior day.
Achieving the milestone would certainly be a big moment for the team which is coming off an MVC Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Winning a championship in the regular season has been the focus as well. The last time it happened? During the 2018-19 season. Pohlman was an assistant working under Jennie Baranczyk at the time.
“It's been top of mind,” Pohlman said.
Drake was able to take care of some big-time business
With Thursday’s win, the Bulldogs clinched a first-round bye in the MVC Tournament which takes place March 14-17 in Moline, Ill.
What’s next? Well, it could be an easy journey the rest of the way
The toughest part of Drake’s schedule is now out of the way. The Bulldogs have just three games remaining in the regular season, with contests against Valparaiso and road trips to Evansville and Indiana State. All three teams have losing records. Drake already won games against the foes.
Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake women's basketball one win from MVC crown after beating UIC
