CEDAR FALLS, Iowa. –UNI downed Drake in a contest eerily similar to the first matchup of the season between the Panthers and Bulldogs. UNI was able to outlast Drake in a defensive battle and earn a 49-47 win sealed by another last-second floater by Johnston, Iowa native Maya McDermott.
 
The loss dropped Drake to 12-7 overall and 7-4 in MVC play while UNI improved to 14-6 on the season and 9-2 in conference action.
 
Forwards Anna Miller and Maggie Bair led the Bulldogs with 15 points and 12 points, respectively. Both Miller and Bair also grabbed 10 rebounds apiece, adding to their double-double count this season.
 
Elsewhere, Grace Berg added six points and nine rebounds while Taylor McAulay tied Miller with a team-high four assists.
 
On the other side, McDermott led UNI with 12 points followed by Emerson Green with 11. Grace Boffeli had a game-high 11 rebounds for the Panthers.
 
Drake found themselves in a deep hole after the first period after starting slowly on both ends of the floor. The Bulldogs' first points came via a pair of Katie Dinnebier free throws roughly 1:30 into the action. The Drake offense failed to find its footing until nearly five minutes had elapsed when Anna Miller finally banked one in.
 
The Panthers took advantage of Drake's sluggish start, opening an 11-2 lead to force a Bulldog timeout. The hosts went on bury six threes in the first 10 minutes. Drake's eight-point first quarter was their lowest single-period scoring effort of the season.
 
The Drake defense flipped the script in the second quarter, holding UNI to just two points, the Bulldogs' lowest point total allowed in a single quarter this season.
 
Behind their increased defensive intensity, Drake cut the Panther lead to single-digits with just of 5:30 to play in the half. After missing their first 11 three-point attempts, Courtney Becker stroked Drake's first triple of the contest to trim the lead to six.
 
Moments later, Maggie Bair started a fast break with a rejection and finished the transition play with an Ava Hawthorne-assisted layup. A Hawthorne free throw with 2:31 to play in the second quarter would be the last score of the half as UNI took a 26-23 lead into the intermission.
 
The second half started in a similar fashion to the end of the first. Both offenses struggled to put any runs together as defense ruled. With 2:09 left in the third quarter, Anna Miller collected a McAulay assist and completed an old fashioned three-point play to knot the score at 34-34. Miller then gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game with 11 seconds to play in the period with another score in the paint.
 
Tied at 40, Taylor McAulay made the Bulldogs' second three-pointer of the game to give Drake a three-point lead. A McAulay steal then led to a Grace Berg bucket in transition to give Drake a 45-40 advantage.
 
UNI's Emerson Green evened the score ad 45 all with just under two minutes to play in the game. Grace Berg answered with a contested layup to reclaim a narrow lead.
 
Neither team scored for the final 1:25 until Maya McDermott delivered a dose of déjà vu. The Panther point guard collected an inbound pass from the sideline and splashed in a 15-foot floater to give UNI a two-point victory, their second buzzer-beating win over Drake this season.
 
"Really tough one tonight," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said after the game. "We didn't start well but I thought we responded extremely well, especially on the defensive end. I think we had them a little stifled but when you play a really good team like that you can't go 2-for-22 from the three-point line."
 
"I'm really pleased with how Anna Miller played but we need to get some people to rally around her," Pohlman continued. "It's just the little things right now, we need to get our stuff together."
 
Drake will return to the Knapp Center for their next contest to host Evansville in the only matchup of the season between the Bulldogs and Purple Aces. Saturday's matinee showing will tip off at 2 p.m.
 
 
TEAM NOTES

• Drake's record slipped to 12-7 overall and 7-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Drake out rebounded UNI by a 48-37 margin.
• Wednesday's loss marked the second-straight game in which Drake failed to score 60+ points.
• The Bulldogs' .327 field goal percentage and .091 three-point percentage were their lowest shooting rates of the season.
• Drake snared 10 steals for the fourth time this season.
• Drake's eight-point first quarter was their lowest single-period scoring effort of the season
• Drake then held UNI to just two points in the second quarter, their best single-period defensive effort of the year.
• The Bulldogs are now 0-2 when playing on Wednesday's this season with both losses coming to UNI.

 
INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Anna Miller led the Bulldogs with 15 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the year.
• Maggie Bair also recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
• Miller and Bair's performances marked the second time this season that those two players recorded a double-double in the same game.
• Grace Berg added six points and nine assists.
• Miller and Taylor McAulay tied with a game-high four assists.

 
THE SERIES

• Drake now leads the series with UNI by a 70-27 margin.
• UNI's win marked their second-straight over Drake and first against the Bulldogs in Cedar Falls since March 2020.
• UNI swept the season series with Drake for the first time since going 3-0 versus the Bulldogs in the 2015-16 campaign.