DES MOINES, Iowa – A comeback that fell a couple of baskets short sent the Drake women's basketball team to a 74-66 loss to Richmond in the second round of the Vibrant Thanksgiving Classic at the Knapp Center on Saturday.
Richmond (5-1) did a good job cutting off lanes to the basket with a suffocating zone defense and the Bulldogs (4-2) couldn't hit the perimeter shots they needed to compensate. The Spiders, meanwhile, knocked down one three-point shot after another finished 13-for-29 from deep.
Following up on her career-high 27-point performance against Louisiana Tech on Friday,
Katie Dinnebier scored 21 to lead the Bulldogs. She got 14 of those points in the fourth quarter and finished with six rebounds and five assists.
Anna Miller added season highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the year and ninth of her career. She also blocked three shots.
Taylor McAulay contributed 10 points, three rebounds and two steals.
The game turned in the second quarter after Drake led by as many as 10 points in the opening period. Richmond started the quarter with 17-1 run, hitting four triples in that burst, and went on to outscore the Bulldogs 30-7 in the period to open a 42-26 halftime lead. The Spiders went a sizzling 7-for-10 from 3-point range in the quarter and shot 11-for-18 overall.
That left the Bulldogs with a tall hill to climb in the second half and they came close to getting there. Five different players scored during a 13-3 run that sliced the lead to 45-39, and when Miller drove for a bucket and followed that with a pair of free throws, the Bulldogs trailed just 50-46 with 1:55 left in the third quarter.
Drake stayed within striking distance the rest of the way but got no closer.
Addie Budnik's basket inside and her 3-pointer from the top of the key stretched the Richmond lead to 55-46 heading into the fourth quarter.
Drake got to within six points three times after that, but Richmond answered with a big shot on each occasion. The Spiders got their lead back to 68-56 and that was enough to keep the Bulldogs at bay.
Drake outrebounded Richmond 42-36 and outscored the Spiders 22-5 on fast break points, 13-5 on second-chance points and 17-7 on free throws. But the Bulldogs had no counter for Richmond's outside shooting. Drake went just 5-for-29 from distance and shot only 34.9 percent overall.
Budnik led Richmond with 17 points and Maggie Doogan, who scored 27 in a victory over Maine on Friday, added 14. They combined to make 7-of-13 3-point shots.
"We won three quarters, but we were so stale in the second [quarter] and gave up too many points," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach
Allison Pohlman said. "Today was a huge learning point for us. We took better care of the basketball but didn't shoot it well…[I] wish we would've touched the paint a little more and were able to take advantage of our motion and shoot the ball better. I give a lot of credit to Richmond…talk about a veteran team. We have the tools to be better [than we were today]…this group is willing to work."
The Bulldogs finish play at the Vibrant Thanksgiving Classic against Maine on Sunday at 2 p.m.
NOTES
- Drake fell to 4-2 overall and 3-1 at home this season.
- Satruday's loss evened the all-time series between Drake and Richmond at 1-1.
- Katie Dinnebier Drake in scoring for the second-straight night with 21 points despite fouling out.
- Dinnebier posted a team-high five assists.
- Anna Miller added 16 points and 12 rebounds, both season-highs, for her second double-double of the year and ninth of her career.
- Miller also led the game with three blocks, her third such outing of the year.
- Taylor McAulay rounded out Drake's double-digit scorers with 10.
