DES MOINES, Iowa –A full house at the Knapp Center saw the Drake women's basketball team give fourth-ranked Iowa all it could handle before the Hawkeyes pulled away for a 92-86 victory in overtime on Sunday afternoon.
 
The Bulldogs (1-1) led for much of the game, fell behind by five with less than 2 minutes left in regulation, then tied it at 82 on Katie Dinnebier's driving layup with 23.9 seconds left.  The Hawkeyes (3-0) missed a shot just before the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
 
Iowa scored the first five points of the extra session, but the Bulldogs clawed back again, cutting the lead to 88-86 when Sarah Beth Gueldner hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 25.9 seconds left. After an Iowa free throw, Drake's Megan Meyer had a good look at a 3 from the left corner, but the shot fell just short, and the Hawkeyes sank three free throws to wrap it up.
 
It was the third overtime in the 54-game series and the first that Iowa won. The game between the longtime rivals drew a crowd of 6,424 – a sellout in the newly configured Knapp Center – and the fans saw quite a show.
 
Dinnebier scored a career-best 24 points while playing a career high 39 ½ minutes to lead the Bulldogs. Scoring mainly on tough drives to the basket, the sophomore guard made her first eight shots and finished 10-for-13. Her 10 field goals also were a career high. She added a team-best four assists to her line, plus five rebounds, two steals and just two turnovers.
 
Redshirt senior Grace Berg added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs and Maggie Bair scored 13. Gueldner finished with 12 points on 4-for-8 3-point shooting and Meyer scored 11. Sophomore Anna Miller had five of Drake's nine blocks. Drake outrebounded the Hawkeyes 48-43 but hurt itself with 23 turnovers.
 
Drake shot 54.3 percent in the first half and 48.4 percent for the game. The Bulldogs held Iowa, one of the nation's best shooting teams, to 41.8 percent from the field.
 
Monika Czinano led Iowa with 36 points and 11 rebounds, making 14-of-21 shots. Preseason All-American Caitlin Clark scored 28 for the Hawkeyes, who had a significant 21-9 edge in points off turnovers.
 
Iowa has won five straight in the series, but the Bulldogs made the Hawkeyes work for this one.
Bair scored the game's first six points on three layups and Drake ended up leading for 17 minutes, 18 seconds in the first half. The Hawkeyes never led until Czinano dropped in a hook shot for a 22-21 edge with 29 seconds left in the first quarter, but Berg gave the lead back to Drake with a driving layup just before the buzzer.
 
Iowa's only other lead in the opening half came at 25-23 on Czinano's three-point play, but the Bulldogs quickly erased that one, too. Dinnebier nailed a 3 from the left wing, then scooped in layup for a 28-25 lead. Gueldner's 3 gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead, 36-28, and they continued to fend off the Hawkeyes in holding a 45-41 lead at halftime.
 
A 12-1 run pulled Iowa into a 55-51 early in the second half and though the Bulldogs led only once after that, they kept it close enough to get into overtime.
 
"What a wonderful home crowd…it was awesome to see it packed and hear the roars," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said after the defeat. "Great teams have moments where things just go there way, and we were so close. If we could've had another bucket here or force a turnover there…I'm just really proud of this team to push it into overtime."
 
Former Drake player Lisa Brinkmeyer, who is battling cancer, was recognized between the first and second quarters. Both coaching staffs wore "Brink's Bench" t-shirts, and the Bulldogs wore them during warmups. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was Brinkmeyer's coach at Drake.
 
Drake, which opened its season with an 80-67 victory over Green Bay, continues its tough opening stretch against No. 22 Nebraska at the Knapp Center on Saturday Nov. 19 at 2 p.m.
 
 
NOTES

• This was the first of two straight home games against nationally ranked team. Iowa was the highest ranked team (No. 4) ever to play a women's game at Drake.  The Bulldogs host No. 22 Nebraska Saturday (Nov. 19) at 2 p.m.
• Drake had a streak of four straight overtime wins dating back to 2020 snapped
• Drake led for 17 minutes 18 seconds in the first half en route to a 45-41 intermission advantage.
• Drake made five of its first six shots to open the second quarter to grab a 36-28 lead forcing Iowa to call a time out with 5:54 left in the period. It was Iowa's largest deficit of the season.
• After shooting a sizzling 54.3 percent (19-35) in the first half, Drake cooled down closing out the game hitting just 41.3 percent (12-29).
• Drake made just one of eight shots from the floor in overtime, while being outscored 10-4.
• All five starters scored in double figures for Drake.
• Drake outrebounded Iowa, 48-43.
• Drake had a season-high 23 turnovers committing more turnovers (seven) than baskets made (five) in the third quarter.
• Sophomore guard Katie Dinnebier led Drake with a career-high 24 points, surpassing her previous best of 20 at Indiana State March 5.
• Dinnebier made a career-high 10 baskets, hitting her first eight shots from the floor.
• Grace Berg tallied 18 points including 10 in the second half.
• Forward Maggie Bair added 13 followed by 12 from Sara Beth Gueldner and 11 from Megan Meyer. Bair scored Drake's first six points in the opening 79 seconds.
• Berg led Drake with nine rebounds.
• This marked the second straight time Iowa beat Drake by six points after the Hawkeyes claimed a 103-97 win at the Knapp Center Dec. 2, 2020. The 2021 game was canceled because of Covid.
• This marked the third time in series history that the Drake-Iowa game went overtime with the Bulldogs winning the previous two contests: 66-63 in Iowa City in 1997 and 75-72 in Iowa City in 2001
• Iowa, winning its fifth straight game against Drake, improved its series record to 29-25 against the Bulldogs including a 14-15 record in Des Moines.