MOLINE, IL - Top seed Drake advanced to the championship of the MVC Tournament for the 13h time in school history with an 68-59 win over No. 4 seed Southern Illinois in Saturday's first semifinal.

This marked just the fourth time in MVC Tourney history that Southern Illinois and Drake faced off in the semifinal round with the Salukis winning encounters in 1983 and 1989, while the Bulldogs beat Southern Illinois in 1995 en route to winning its first MVC Tournament championship.
 
Drake, winning its 20^th straight game, improves its record to 25-7. This also marks the fourth straight year the number 1 seed has advanced to the championship of the MVC Tournament (Wichita State 2015; UNI 2016; Drake 2017)

Drake trailed Southern Illinois 18-8 at the end of the first quarter and outscored the Salukis to take a 29-26 lead at the half. 

Junior guard Maddy Dean led the Bulldogs with 22 points, seven rebounds and three assists.  Sophomore Becca Hittner added 15 points in the win. 

Freshman Makenzie Silvey led the Salukis with 17 points and three rebounds in the loss.

Drake advances to the MVC Tournament Championship and will play the winner of No. 2 Missouri State vs. No. 3 UNI Sunday at 2 p.m.