DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake women's basketball team spread the playing time and scoring throughout the lineup Sunday in rolling past Upper Iowa 87-40 in an exhibition game at the Knapp Center.
 
Drake's three preseason All-Missouri Valley Conference selections led the way for the Bulldogs, who outrebounded their Division II opponent 60-33, came up with 15 steals and had assists on 21 of their 34 field goals.
 
Graduate Grace Berg topped the scoring with 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting. Junior Katie Dinnebier added 14 points, nine assists and six steals, while junior Anna Miller contributed 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. She made all but one of her seven shots and handed out a couple of assists.
 
Berg and Dinnebier were first-team picks on the all-conference team. Miller was voted to the second team.
 
Newcomers Shannon Fornshell and Anna Brown made major contributions in scoring 12 points each. Fornshell, a 6-foot-1 freshman, finished with an impressive line in 24 minutes of action: 5-for-6 shooting, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
 
Brown, a graduate transfer from Loyola, knocked down three of the Bulldogs' four 3-pointers and added five rebounds, two assists and two steals. She's expected to contribute with her 3-point shooting and wasted no time in that regard, checking into the game at the 8:03 mark in the first quarter and buried her first trey 24 seconds later.
 
Overall, the 3-point shooting was the Bulldogs' only major flaw. They went just 4-for-31 from deep but shot 60 percent (30-for-50) inside the arc and outscored the Peacocks 58-10 in the paint.
 
Courtney Becker, who started alongside Dinnebier, Berg, Miller and Taylor McAulay, led the Bulldogs with 14 rebounds and scored four points. McAulay also scored four and added two assists.
 
Drake led 41-19 at halftime and was at its best in the third quarter, outscoring Upper Iowa 22-7 after starting the quarter with three straight transition baskets. Dinnebier hit Berg in stride for a layup, McAuly stole the ball and fed Dinnebier for a layup and then Dinnebier returned the favor, stealing the ball and hitting McAuly for an easy bucket, prompting an Upper Iowa timeout.
 
The Bulldogs led 66-31 at the end of the quarter and continued to pull away from there.
 
Drake held Upper Iowa to 24 percent shooting and gave up no more than four baskets in any quarter. The Peacocks did lead once, at 3-2 on Amelia Valentino's 3-pointer, and it was tied at 6-6. But the Bulldogs closed the quarter with 10 straight points to open a 24-11 lead and were control the rest of the way.
 
After another exhibition game on Wednesday, Nov. 1, against Winona State, Drake opens the regular season at home against St. Thomas on Monday, Nov. 6.