PEORIA, Ill. – The Drake University women's basketball team travels to central Illinois for the start of Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend. Drake (8-4) plays at Bradley (10-1) Friday night at 6 p.m. before it closes opening weekend at Illinois State (7-4) Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Both road contests will be streamed on ESPN+.
Drake enters league play after playing one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. The Bulldogs played four opponents who are currently ranked and two more who received votes in the latest the AP Top 25 poll. The 11 Division I opponents Drake faced have a combined record of 96-50.