DES MOINES, Iowa – Taylor McAulay's career game coupled with a fast start carried the Drake women's basketball team to an 85-73 victory over Iowa State at the Knapp Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
In the first of two straight intrastate rivalry games for the Bulldogs, Drake raced to a 20-point lead in the first half, then fought off the Cyclones after they stormed back to take a brief lead in the fourth quarter.
 
McAulay topped her previous career best of 14 points with 16 in the first half and finished with 27, one of three Drake players to score at least 20. The junior left-hander knocked down 9-of-14 from the field, including 6-for-8 from 3-point range. The six treys also were a career high.
 
She complemented those numbers with two rebounds, three assists and a block.
 
Grace Berg added 22 points and went 4-for-8 from deep, matching her career best for three-pointers. Katie Dinnebier scored 20, sinking 11 of 12 free throws, handing out seven assists and coming up with a career-high six steals.
 
Courtney Becker led the Bulldogs with seven rebounds and scored 10 points. Anna Miller pulled down six rebounds, made three steals and blocked a shot.
 
The Bulldogs improved to 3-0 in a game that went from Bulldog blowout to tense back to comfortable victory. It was Drake's largest winning margin against ISU since a 61-36 win in December of 2003 and the Bulldogs' fourth victory over the Cyclones in their last five meetings at the Knapp Center.
 
"Our team was able to grow after the start of the second half and really weather the storm," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said after the game. "I'm so proud of the stretch we've had to start the year."
 
After both teams struggled with their shooting in the opening minutes, Drake was the first to find the range, taking a 7-3 lead on McAulay's first triple of the game. The Bulldogs led 14-6 on an Ashley Iiams trey before Iowa State clawed back behind freshman Audi Crooks to forge a 16-all tie at the quarter's end.
 
McAulay nailed another three-ball to open the third quarter and then the Bulldogs broke it open, reeling off 19 unanswered points to open a 38-18 lead, Becker capping the run with a layup on a high-low feed from McAulay. Two Crooks free throws drew ISU To 38-20 at halftime. Drake held Iowa State without a field goal in the second quarter, outscoring the Cyclones 22-4.
 
Iowa State went 0-for-7 from deep in the opening 20 minutes, but the Cyclones regained their touch in the third quarter, hitting five shots from beyond the arc to cut the lead to 47-45. The Cyclones tied it twice in the fourth quarter before scoring seven-straight to edge into a 67-65 lead with 5:16 left.
 
But the Bulldogs stiffened and held ISU to two baskets the rest of the way. McAulay broke the tie with a three from the right corner, then buried another from the top of the key after Berg rebounded an ISU miss, lifting Drake into a 73-67 lead with 3:41 to play. It was a matter of making free throws after that and the Bulldogs cashed in, sinking 8-of-10, including four-straight by Dinnebier to finish it off.
 
The 6-foot-3 Crooks, who led Bishop Garrigan High School of Algona to a pair of state championships, topped the Cyclones (1-1) with 23 points. Graduate transfer Hannah Belanger scored 11 for the Cyclones, who have five freshmen in their main rotation.
 
"I have the utmost respect for Coach Fennelly and what [Iowa State] is going to be able to do," Pohlman added. "These moments are telling for us…it is really going to help us to get ready for conference season. [Our team's] belief in each other…this group just loves playing together and that emotion makes this team special."
 
Drake is off to its best start since opening 5-0 in 2018-19. The Bulldogs hit the road for their next game, a date at third-ranked Iowa next Sunday.
 
NOTES

• Drake improved to 3-0 this season.
• This marks the best start by a Drake team since the Bulldogs opened the 2018-19 campaign with a 5-0 mark.
• Trailing 67-65 with 5:16 left, Drake's defense held ISU to just two baskets the remainder of the game.
• Drake held Iowa State without a field goal in the second quarter as the Cyclones went 0-9.
• Drake, which ranked second in the NCAA in assists last season (20.7 per game), collected 18 assists on 26 baskets.
• Drake outscored Iowa State 14-0 in fast break opportunities.
• Drake, snapping a two-game losing streak in the series, improved its record against Iowa State to 30-32, including a 19-12 mark in Des Moines.
• This was the widest margin of victory by the Bulldogs in the series since a 61-26 victory in Des Moines on Dec. 10, 2003.
• Redshirt senior guard Taylor McAulay enjoyed her third-straight double-figure scoring game with a career-high 27 points, 16 of which came in the first half.
• McAulay set her career high with seven three-point baskets, surpassing her previous best of three treys against Bradley last season.
• McAulay entered the game shooting just 20 percent behind the arc (2-10) before making six of nine attempts.
• Graduate Grace Berg added a season-high 22 points with 15 in the second half.
• Junior guard Katie Dinnebier, who also notched a season-best 20 points, had a career-high six steals along with a game-high seven assists.