No. 23 Drake women hold off Southern Illinois 71-64

Mar 2, 2019, 02:20 am

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Becca Hittner scored 10 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter and No. 23 Drake held off a second-half rally to beat Southern Illinois 71-64 on Friday night.

Maddy Dean had six of her 19 points in the final 2 1/2 minutes, including a deep 3-pointer from the wing that made it 66-59 with 47 seconds left. Dean finished 4 of 7 from 3-point range and Sammie Bachrodt added 14 points with two 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs (22-5, 14-1 Missouri Valley Conference) had their largest lead of the game late in the second quarter at 32-16. The Salukis (13-13, 6-9) outscored Drake 23-14 in the third quarter and got as close as 48-46 early in the fourth.

Southern Illinois never pushed in front, but four more times cut the deficit back to two, the last at 61-59 with 1:57 left.

Makenzie Silvey scored 15 points, Abby Brockmeyer had 12 points and eight rebounds, Kristen Nelson scored 10 and Nicole Martin had eight points and 11 rebounds for Southern Illinois.