The Drake University women’s basketball team saw its 21-game winning streak come to an end with an 89-76 loss at Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon at Reed Arena. The 13th-seeded Bulldogs’ second-straight NCAA appearance was cut short by a strong second quarter from No. 4 Texas A&M and two Aggies in double-figure scoring.

Junior Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) was nearly perfect for Drake (26-8) with 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting with 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season. Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa), the reigning Jackie Stiles Missouri Valley Conference Player of Year, added 19 points while Brenni Rose (Shawnee, Kan.) had 10 points. Sammie Bachrodt (Wichita, Kan.) had a career-high 10 assists, the most ever by a Bulldog in an NCAA Tournament game.

Drake, which came into the game leading the nation in assists, had a staggering 29 assists to tie for the 16th-most ever in an NCAA Women’s Tournament game.

Texas A&M (25-9) was led by 26 points from the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year, Chennedy Carter. Khaalia Hillsman added 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting. Seventeen of the pair’s points came in the second half as the Aggies outscored the Bulldogs 31-14 to take control of the game.

The Bulldogs outscored the Aggies, 62-58, in the other three quarters of action but could not overcome a second quarter in which they were held to 35.3 percent shooting despite converting on 53.2 percent of their shots overall, the team’s fifth-best percentage ever in an NCAA Tournament game.

The Bulldogs came out firing to start the game and had a 28-26 lead at the end of the first quarter. Rhine and Hittner scored 21 of those points as Rhine was 5-of-5 from the floor while Hittner made a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter. Five of Rhine’s points came during a 30-second span in which she erased a four-point deficit to give the Bulldogs a lead with a three-point play and jumper in the lane.

Hittner and Rhine helped the Bulldogs shoot 12-of-17 in the first quarter, but that shooting cooled in the second period as Drake made just one of its first seven shots and committed three turnovers in the first 4:24 of the second quarter to allow the Aggies to score 13-straight points and take a 41-30 lead. Carter and Hillsman scored nine points during that run to give the Aggies a 13-point cushion. Carter would score 19 of her points in the first half along with eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs responded to trim the deficit to eight points with three minutes remaining in the half, but a Carter three-pointer keyed a 9-2 Aggie run to close the half and take a 57-42 lead into the halftime break. Hittner finished the half with 14 points for the Bulldogs.

However, Drake held serve in the third quarter and began to chip away at the deficit with a 10-2 spurt drawing the Bulldogs within nine points, 72-69, with 3:01 left in the period. Rhine and Dean scored all 10 points with Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) connecting on back-to-back three-pointers to put the brakes on Texas A&M’s momentum. Dean finished with eight points and eight assists.

Drake remained within striking distance for the final 13 minutes of the game but could not erode Texas A&M’s lead any further. A Dean jumper with 2:58 left in the game pulled the Bulldogs back within nine points, 85-76, but the Bulldogs could get no closer to erasing the deficit in the program’s 12th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance.

The loss ends another historic season for the Drake women’s basketball team in which it won its second-straight Missouri Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles with the program’s second-consecutive 18-0 record in MVC action. The Bulldogs are slated to return all but one student-athlete to the roster next season in defense of their back-to-back conference titles.

The University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team (19-14) had its WNIT run cut short on Thursday night, after visiting Milwaukee (21-11) shot a program-record 69.4% from the floor to score an 81-67 victory.

The visiting Panthers shot a record 34-of-49 on the night, while knocking in 10-of-18 3-pointers. UNI was held to 36.4% from the floor, while making 9-of-29 shots from behind-the-arc.

The sophomore duo of Rose Simon-Ressler and Megan Maahs led UNI in scoring, after earning 15 and 14 points respectively. Milwaukee was paced by Jamie Reit who scored a game-high 21 points after making five 3-pointers on Thursday.

The two Panther squads were evenly matched early on Thursday, with the score knotted up at 12-12 midway through the first quarter. Milwaukee posted a 9-2 run to gain control of the contest and put UNI on its heels, until Simon-Ressler cut into the deficit at the buzzer with a basket to make it 21-16.

UNI closed the gap to just a bucket following a Maahs score underneath, but Milwaukee would push its lead to 12 to close out the half after shooting a blistering 9-of-10 from the floor.

The hot shooting continued into the second half for Milwaukee, after a Bailey Farley 3-pointer swelled the lead to 16 at the 8:53 mark. UNI would fight back however, as the homestanding Panthers cut the deficit in half thanks in part to a seven-point spurt from Simon-Ressler. A jumper from Reit before the close of the third quarter brought Milwaukee’s lead back to double digits as the visiting Panthers held a 63-53 advantage heading into the final quarter.

Simon-Ressler’s jumper to open the fourth quarter trimmed the Milwaukee lead back to single-digits once again, but the visiting Panthers countered with a 7-2 run. Despite a great effort all night on both ends of the floor, UNI couldn’t overcome Milwaukee’s hot shooting as the visiting Panthers closed out the contest to win 81-67.

The Drake University men’s basketball team will travel to Greeley, Colo., to face the University of Northern Colorado in the next round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. The Bulldogs and Bears will meet Sunday, March 18, at 4 p.m. CDT in UNC’s Bank of Colorado Arena.

The Bulldogs advanced to Sunday’s contest by virtue of their 80-73 overtime victory against Abilene Christian Monday afternoon in the Knapp Center to improve to 17-16 this season. Senior Ore Arogundade (Chicago, Ill.) poured in a career-high 25 points in that win to keep the Bulldogs’ postseason run alive.

Northern Colorado is 22-12 this season after falling in the Big Sky Tournament semifinals to eventual champion Montana. The Bears won six of their final eight games of the season and are led by Andre Spight’s 21.9 points per game, the second-highest scoring average in the Big Sky Conference.

Niko Medved

The Drake University men’s basketball team earned an 80-73 overtime victory over Abilene Christian in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) to win the Lou Henson Classic Monday afternoon at the Knapp Center.

Drake’s Ore Arogundade (Chicago, Ill.), who was named the Lou Henson Classic Most Valuable Player, posted a career-best and game-high 25 points as he made 8-of-10 from the field, including 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. Nick McGlynn (Stoughton, Wis.) added 22 points, while grabbing seven rebounds and matching a career-high four blocks. C.J. Rivers (Cahokia, Ill.) grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to go with four assists, three points and two steals, many coming in overtime to seal the win in front of a crowd of 3,565.

Drake (17-16) shot 38.5 percent and went 3-of-5 from the field and 5-for-7 from the free throw line in overtime. The Bulldogs held the Wildcats to 37.2 percent from the field and limited ACU (16-16) to 2-of-12 in overtime.

The first half went back and forth for the first 15 minutes with Drake earning a 24-18 lead off a fast break layup by Jalen Gibbs (Waldorf, Md.) and forcing ACU to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Wildcats managed to stop the Bulldog run and scored the final four points of the half to tie it up 28-28 at intermission.

The Bulldogs came out of halftime strong and took a five-point lead, 33-28, off a three-pointer by Arogundade and a layup by De’Antae McMurray. Drake pushed its lead to 10 points, 40-30, with 15:28 left to play.

The Bulldogs managed to keep the Wildcats from making a big run over the next 12-and-half minutes and held on to a 10-point lead, 69-59, with two minutes left to play. [Read more…]

Megan Gustafson

The University of Iowa women’s basketball team has received an at-large berth into the NCAA Championships, the NCAA selection committee announced on ESPN on Monday. The Hawkeyes (24-7; 11-5) are a No. 6 seed and will play the No. 11 seed Creighton (18-12; 11-7) from the Big East at 5 p.m. (CT) on Saturday in Los Angeles inside Pauley Pavilion. The game will be televised on ESPN2. Iowa is 7-5 all-time against Creighton.

This year marks Iowa’s 25th trip to the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Lisa Bluder has led the Hawkeyes to 13 NCAA Tournaments in her 18 years at Iowa. It is Iowa’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since making the Sweet Sixteen in 2015. The Hawkeyes, a No. 3 seed, defeated 14th-seeded American (75-67) in the first round before downing 11th-seeded Miami (88-70) in the second round.

It marks the third time in program history (1991, 2011, 2014) that Iowa has earned a No. 6 seed. The Hawkeyes are 2-3 all-time as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Los Angeles First/Second Round site is part of the Kansas City region. No. 3 UCLA will take on No. 14 American on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Creighton, 18-12 overall and 11-7 in league play, is making its seventh NCAA Tournament appearance and second consecutive trip to the tournament. The BlueJays bowed out in the second round of the Big East tournament, falling top-seeded Marquette, 76-70.

The Drake University women’s basketball team (26-7) is a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament as Drake will play at No. 4 Texas A&M (24-9) Friday, March 16 it was announced Monday night on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Show on ESPN. The game in College Station, Texas will broadcast on either ESPN, ESPN2 & ESPN3. Broadcast details will be announced at a later date.

Drake won its seventh Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and secured its 12th NCAA Tournament berth with a 75-63 victory over UNI in the MVC Tournament championship game Sunday afternoon at the TaxSlayer Center in Moline, Ill.

The Bulldogs’ second-straight MVC Tournament title capped a second-consecutive season in which the program went undefeated against conference foes and the victory over UNI was the Bulldogs 21st-straight win this season.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the Bulldogs and the Aggies. No. 5 DePaul and No. 12 Oklahoma are the other two teams in the Spokane Region. They will play Friday at 11 a.m. CST.

For the eighth time in the past nine years under head coach Tanya Warren, the University of Northern Iowa women’s basketball team will be in postseason action as the Panthers earned an at-large selection to the Women’s National Invitational Tournament, the committee announced late Monday night.

UNI (19-13) will host Horizon League-member Milwaukee (20-11) on Thursday at the McLeod Center, with a time to be determined on Tuesday. UNI and Milwaukee have met eight times on the court, but never in postseason play. The Panthers from Cedar Falls lead the all-time series against the Panthers from Milwaukee, 6-2. The last meeting came in 2010, with UNI taking a 72-58 decision in Milwaukee. Winner of Thursday’s game will face the victor between Indiana and UT Martin.

First-round action for the 64-team field begins Wednesday, March 14 and continues through Friday, March 16. Round 2 games take place March 17-20; Round 3 games are March 21-23, Round 4 runs March 24-26, and the semifinals are March 28-29. The championship game will be held at 3 p.m. ET on March 31 and will be televised on CBS Sports Network. All games are hosted by participating schools.

The tournament will feature five teams from both the Atlantic 10 and Big Ten. There are four teams from Conference USA and the Mountain West; three teams each come from the American, Big 12, Big East, Colonial, Horizon and MAC. [Read more…]

Jennie Baranczyk

The Drake University women’s basketball team won its seventh Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and secured its 12th NCAA Tournament berth with a 75-63 victory over UNI in the MVC Tournament championship game Sunday, March 11, afternoon at the TaxSlayer Center.

The Bulldogs’ second-straight MVC Tournament title capped a second-consecutive season in which the program went undefeated against conference foes and the victory over UNI was the Bulldogs 21st-straight win this season.

Drake (26-7) will learn its NCAA Tournament opportunity during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show Monday evening on ESPN at 6 p.m. CDT.

Four Bulldogs scored in double-figures to lead Drake to the tourney crown with Nicole Miller (Walker, Iowa) helping lead with way with 12 points. Her final points came on a critical three-pointer in the fourth quarter that helped the Bulldogs go on an 8-0 run to build an 11-point lead with just over five minutes remaining in the title game.

Sara Rhine (Eldon, Mo.) added 12 points and seven rebounds while Becca Jonas (Independence, Mo.) and Maddy Dean (Jordan, Minn.) each added 10 points. Dean was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after averaging 17.0 points per game and shooting 10-of-21 from three-point range in the Bulldogs’ three wins. Rhine and Becca Hittner (Urbandale, Iowa) joined Dean on the MVC All-Tournament team. [Read more…]

The No. 2 Wartburg women’s basketball team (31-0 overall) advanced to the Final Four round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time in two seasons. The Knights were able to hold off a late rally by East Texas Baptist and won, 65-61 in front of a crowd of 2,100.

Senior Morgan Neuendorf (Plainfield) led all scorers with 19 points. Classmates Katie Sommer (Cedar Rapids) and Miranda Murphy (Alleman) joined her in double digits wtih 14 and 13 points, respectively.

The Tigers took the 15-7 lead after the first quarter. The Orange and Black went on a 13-0 run over the first 6:06 of the second quarter to take a 20-15 lead. East Texas Baptist fought back to cut the lead to 27-25 at the halftime break.

Wartburg started the second half making seven of its first 11 shots from the field as part of a 17-0 run to extend the Knights’ lead to 44-25 with 4:52 remaining in the third quarter and led 52-36 heading to the final period.

East Texas Baptist outscored Wartburg 23-9 over the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter and cut the Wartburg lead to 61-59 with 2:00 remaining. A Kristie Sommer steal followed by two Neuendorf free throws extended the lead to 63-59 with 1:10 left. The Tigers were able to cut the deficit to three with 0:10 remaining but unable to complete the full comeback.

The Knights will face No. 5 Bowdoin in the national semifinals Friday in Rochester, Minn. Game time is to be announced.

A day after accepting an invitation to compete in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, the Drake University men’s basketball team has learned its first-round opponent. The Bulldogs will host Abilene Christian University Monday, March 12, at 1 p.m. in the Knapp Center. The game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network and admission will be free to all fans.

Drake makes its 11th postseason appearance in program history and first since 2012. The CIT berth marks the third time the Bulldogs have been a part of the CIT field as the team was a part of the 2012 and 2009 editions of the event.

ACU is making its first postseason appearance as a Division I program after compiling a 16-15 overall record and an 8-10 mark in Southland Conference action.

Monday’s game is the second ever between the two programs. The Bulldogs and Wildcats met in the Knapp Center Dec. 22, 2015 with the Bulldogs prevailing 87-70 behind 23 points from Graham Woodward (Edina, Minn.).

While admission is free to all for Monday’s game as part of Community Day at the Knapp Center, fans are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to donate at Drake Athletics has partnered the Food Bank of Iowa to collect needed items for Iowans in need.