DES MOINES -- The Drake University women's basketball team regained some of its offensive rhythm, played solid defense and ended a four-game losing streak with a 65-57 victory over Northern Iowa at the Knapp Center on Friday night.

Freshman post Anna Miller scored the go-ahead basket on a leaner inside with 2:14 left and led all scorers with 16 points as the Bulldogs won for the first time since beating Evansville on New Year's Day. Drake improved to 10-8 overall and 2-5 in the Missouri Valley Conference by snapping its longest losing streak since dropping four in a row during the 2013-14 season.

Northern Iowa, which had won three straight, fell to 10-6 and 3-2 and has lost six straight at the Knapp Center. Drake has now defeated the Panthers 12 times in the last 13 meetings.

Miller posted an impressive stat line all the way through, making 7-of-14 shots, grabbing eight rebounds, handing out two assists and blocking two shots. Grace Berg bounced back from two subpar games to score 13 points on 5-for-9 shooting while adding five rebounds, five assists and two steals. She had totaled only eight points in the two previous games.

Megan Meyer scored 11 points for the Bulldogs and Maggie Bair had 10 to go with seven rebounds, including a key bucket in the final minute.

Drake built an early lead with the kind of crisp offensive play that has defined the program in recent years, getting layups on sharp cuts to the basket and knocking down a couple of early 3-pointers, including one by the 6-foot-3 Miller from the top of the key as the shot clock expired midway through the first quarter.

The Bulldogs shot 58.8 percent in the opening quarter, making seven straight shots in one stretch, in taking a 22-15 lead, recording assists on eight of their 10 baskets. They led by as many as nine in the second quarter before UNI ended the half with a 6-1 run to draw to 34-30 at the break.

Sarah Beth Gueldner's 3, his first basket from long range since the Evansville game, put the Bulldogs up 47-38 with 3:57 remaining in the third quarter, but they had to fight off the Panthers the rest of the way.

UNI tied it at 49 in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter and pulled ahead 53-51 when Karli Rucker followed up a missed layup with a putback. The lead did not last long.

Gueldner buried a 3 from the right corner and Miller converted a three-point play on a high-post feed from Berg, pulling the Bulldogs ahead 57-53. UNI rallied to tie it at 57 on Rucker's driving basket, but the Bulldogs answered again.

Miller leaned in for the bucket that put Drake ahead for good and Bair, who had struggled to get some of her inside shots to fall, took a pass from Berg for a layup that made it 61-57 and the Bulldogs wrapped it up on four Katie Dinnebier free throws as UNI missed its final seven shots.

Rucker led Northern Iowa with 12 points and Nicole Kroeger scored 11. Grace Boffeli led the Panthers with 10 rebounds, while Cynthia Wolf had nine points and seven rebounds. Drake held the Panthers to 35.7 percent shooting and won the rebounding battle 49-39.

Drake will try to build on the victory when it plays at Bradley next Thursday, Jan. 27. Game time is 6:30 p.m.
  

TEAM NOTES
•Drake, snapping a four-game losing streak, improved to 10-8 overall including a 2-5 record in the Missouri Valley Conference entering a Thursday (Jan. 27) game at Bradley.
•Drake improved its record to 9-3 when leading at halftime after owning a 34-30 intermission advantage.
•Drake also outrebounded UNI, 49-39, moving to 10-2 this season when outrebounding opponents.
•Drake closed out the first quarter making nine of its last 12 shots, including seven in a row during a juncture.
 
 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
•Freshman Anna Miller  led Drake with a game-high 16 points, including 11 in the first half. Miller surpassed her previous combined two game total of nine points (3, 6).
•Grace Berg  added 13 points followed by 11 from Megan Meyer  and 10 points from Maggie Bair. Berg had scored a combined eight points (5,3) in her last two games.
•Miller grabbed eight rebounds, while Becker and Bair had seven boards apiece.
•Sarah Beth Gueldner came off the bench to score six points —on two three-point baskets— surpassing her entire combined total of four points in her last three games (3,0,1). It was her first three-point basket since Jan. 1.
•Freshman guard Katie Dinnebier scored four of her five points— all on free throws— in the final 27.2 seconds of the game.
 
THE SERIES
•Drake, winning its third straight game against the Panthers, improved their series record to 68-25 against UNI.
•Drake has won 12 of its last 13 meetings against UNI dating back to an 88-79 double-overtime win in Cedar Falls Jan. 27, 2017.
•Drake also earned its sixth straight home victory over UNI dating back to a 70-57 victory in the Knapp Center  Feb. 24, 2017.