QUAD CITIES - Even at less than its best offensively, Drake found a way to get back to the MVC Tournament championship game.
The top-seeded Bulldogs got 22 points from Becca Hittner and offset its subpar shooting with excellent defense in beating fourth-seeded Illinois State 65-54. Drake trailed by as many as six points before pulling ahead for good with a 14-0 third-quarter run.
Sara Rhine added 15 points and 11 rebounds for No. 21-ranked Drake (27-5), her 13th double-double this season and the 24th of her career. Sammie Bachrodt also played a big role for the Bulldogs with an impressive stat line: eight points, seven assists, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks.
Maddy Dean added another eight points and six rebounds for Drake, which will go for its third straight tournament championship and eighth overall at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Bulldogs have now won eight straight games in the Valley tournament and 65 of their last 66 games against MVC opponents.
Illinois State gave Drake problems with an aggressive defense for the first 2 1/2 quarters but could not overcome its 29.2 percent shooting. Tete Maggett tied her career high with five 3-point baskets and led the Redbirds (19-12) with 21 points. Lexi Wallen, a former Illinois State volleyball player, added 13.
Simone Goods, the team's leading scorer for the season with a 17.3 average, got into early foul trouble and scored just two points on 1-for-7 shooting. She picked up her third and fourth fouls only 8 seconds apart early in the third quarter and ended up playing just 15 minutes.
Illinois State was leading 37-31 and had limited Drake to one basket in the first 5 minutes of the third quarter when the Bulldogs finally got untracked. Dean swished a long 3 to trigger a run of 14 straight points -- scored by five different players -- that pulled Drake into a 45-37 lead.
The Redbirds drew to 51-47 midway through the fourth quarter before the Bulldogs struck from long distance. They knocked down 3-pointers in four of six possessions -- two by Hittner and one each by Bachrodt and Nicole Miller -- to take the lead to 63-49.
Illinois State had no answer and Drake soon began celebrating another semifinal victory.
With her three steals, Bachrodt took sole possession of first place on the school's career list with 277. Dean's two 3-pointers moved her into second place on the school's career ledger with 237 and Hittner moved into a tie for 20th on the Valley's single-season scoring list with 630 points.