This story has been updated with new information.
Sunday was a celebration of Drake women’s basketball. The Bulldogs looked back on 50 years of the program’s history and hoped to cap off a memorable weekend with a big win over in-state rival Iowa.
The Hawkeyes spoiled the party.
Katie Dinnebier scored a career-high 40 points for the Bulldogs, who suffered a 86-73 loss to Iowa before a sellout crowd at the Knapp Center.
“We are a really good basketball team and I don’t think the score reflects that,” Dinnebier said. “It should have been way closer than what it was.”
The Bulldogs have lost back-to-back games and fell to 2-2. The latest setback was the seventh straight in the series for the Bulldogs, who haven’t beaten the Hawkeyes since 2016.
Drake was able to hang with Iowa for the most of the day and even set the tone early on.
The Bulldogs were hot from 3-point range and led 17-16 after the first quarter. They took a 28-23 lead early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Ava Hawthorne.
It wouldn’t last. The Hawkeyes heated up and went on an 18-3 run to close out the half. Iowa hit four of its last five shots from the field and scored the last 10 points of the quarter.
Drake, meanwhile, went cold late in the first half. The Bulldogs hit just one of their last 12 field-goal attempts and went the final 2:17 without a basket. Iowa rolled into halftime with a 45-35 lead.
The shooting struggles continued into the second half for Drake, which missed its first five shots and fell into a 49-35 hole. But the Bulldogs kept battling back.
Drake eventually heated up again and got back into the game with a 9-0 run. Dinnebier, who had 19 points in the third quarter, connected on back-to-back 3s and helped bring Drake to within four of Iowa.
Dinnebier connected on three free throws to cut the lead to 64-59 later in the third quarter.
“I thought we had them,” Dinnebier said.
Iowa answered with back-to-back 3s, including one banked in by Teagan Mallegni.
The Hawkeyes pulled away for good in the fourth quarter.
Dinnebier finished 8-for-17 from the field, 17-of-20 from the free-throw line and had five assists for the Bulldogs. It wasn’t enough as Drake was unable to find a second scorer to step up. Anna Miller, who entered the game averaging 21.3 points per contest, finished with six points on 1-of-17 shooting.
Dinnebier, though, was the star.
“What a great individual performance that she had today,” said Drake coach Allison Pohlman.
The schedule doesn’t let up for Drake. The Bulldogs face another tough in-state rival in their next game, playing at eighth-ranked Iowa State on Nov. 24.
“We have an amazing team filled with great players,” Dinnebier said. “We’ll be back and we’ll bring all them with us.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.
