IOWA CITY, Iowa – In a hard-fought in-state contest, Iowa held off the Drake University women's basketball team for a 79-67 win Saturday night at Carver Hawkeye Arena.
 
Sara Rhine scored a team-high 17 points for Drake (7-4) while Becca Hittner finished with 16 points. Brenni Rose filled the stat sheet with nine points, eight rebounds and five assists.
 
Iowa (9-2) had four players in double figures led by Mackenzie Meyer, who scored 24 points. Kathleen Doyle and Monika Czinano added 19 and 17 points, respectively. Alexis Sevillian had 11 points.
 
Hittner made back-to-back three-pointers at the start of the game, and later added one more for Drake to lead 11-7. The Bulldogs had a 17-14 lead after one quarter. In the second quarter, Rose put Drake ahead 27-26 with a putback at the 2:31 mark, but Iowa countered with a 10-0 closing run to lead 37-27 at halftime.
 
In the third quarter, Drake battled back by shooting 60.0 percent (9-of-15) from the floor and made four three-pointers, one by Hittner and Rose and a pair by Maddie Monahan. Kierra Collier's two free throws with 2:31 left in the period pulled the Bulldogs back to within one point. Hittner's two made it a three-point game in favor of Iowa at 56-53 going into the fourth quarter.
 
Sevillian's two started the scoring in the final quarter, but Drake freshman Sarah Beth Gueldner drained a three-pointer to make it a two-point game. Iowa stretched its lead to seven before Rhine answered with a bucket. Later, Collier and Hittner each trimmed the deficit to six but Iowa countered each team to keep it a multiple possession game and hold off the Bulldogs for the in-state victory.
 
Drake committed a season-high 23 turnovers that the Hawkeyes scored 31 points off. Drake controlled the glass with a 35-27 rebounding advantage that helped them score seven second-chance points.
 
Drake will have a break before it closes the non-conference schedule at Northern Illinois on Dec. 29 at 2 p.m.