DES MOINES, Iowa – A fast start and Grace Berg’s 28 points helped the Drake women’s basketball team avenge its only conference loss with a 79-64 victory over Illinois State at the Knapp Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Bulldogs (18-5, 11-1 Missouri Valley Conference) led from the start in the annual Pink Game, took a 22-point lead into the second half and never faced a serious threat over the final 20 minutes. Drake has won three straight since a 79-70 loss at Illinois State two weeks ago and sits alone atop the conference.

Berg got the first basket of the game on a layup after Anna Miller grabbed an offensive rebound and slipped her a pass and kept scoring from there, falling two points shy of her career high. She knocked down two of the Bulldogs’ five three-pointers, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out two assists.

Miller put up her second straight double-double and ninth of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Courtney Becker doubled up for the third time with 15 points – one short of her career best – and 10 rebounds.

Drake outrebounded the Redbirds 43-32, the 17th time the Bulldogs have won the battle on the boards, and outscored them 50-26 in the paint.

“Huge thanks to Bulldog nation,” Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said after the game. “It was rocking in here and we love the pink. I credit our team too…we were as ready as we needed to be today. Illinois State is a really good shooting team, and our women just understood the coverages. We just did exactly what we needed to do to execute and get a win.”

The Bulldogs hit the road for their next two games, at Murray State on Thursday, Feb. 15, and at Belmont on Saturday, Feb. 17. Their next home game is Thursday, Feb. 22 against Missouri State at 6 p.m.