DES MOINES, Iowa – Katie Dinnebier celebrated Drake's recognition of 50 years of intercollegiate women's basketball with a career game. It just wasn't enough. Iowa offset Dinnebier's 40 points with balance and strong inside play and beat the Bulldogs 86-73 in front of a packed house at the Knapp Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
Dinnebier did all she could to keep her team afloat, scoring 28 of Drake's 38 points in the second half and finishing one point short of the single-game high for an NCAA Division I player this season. She went 8-for-17 from the field, including 7-of-15 from 3-point range, and made 17 of her 20 free throws while drawing 13 fouls.
 
The 3-pointers and free throws also were career highs, with the 17 free throws matching the third-best total in Drake history and tying the Division I high for the season.  Her previous best had been 32 points against Murray State last February.
 
It's the first 40-point game for a Drake player since Lizzy Wendell scored 43 against Missouri State on Jan. 30, 2015.
 
No other Drake player scored more than seven points, however, and the Hawkeyes never trailed after running off the final 10 points of the first half to take a 45-35 lead into the break. Courtney Becker had seven points and seven rebounds for the Bulldogs (2-2), while Abbie Aalsma, Grace Knutson and Anna Miller each scored six. Miller grabbed 10 rebounds but endured a tough afternoon shooting the ball, finishing 1-for-17.
 
Drake scored 26 points off Iowa's season-high 17 turnovers, but the Bulldogs were outscored 46-10 in the paint and shot a season-low 28.6 percent from the field.
 
Addison O'Grady made her first eight shots, all layups, and led Iowa (4-0) with 27 points. Lucy Olsen added 18 for the Hawkeyes, Hannah Stuelke scored 16 and Teagan Mallegni had 13.
 
Drake shook off its 2-for-13 shooting in the second quarter to make two runs at the Hawkeyes after halftime, mostly because of Dinnebier. She converted an old-fashioned three-point play off a drive and knocked down three 3-pointers in a 15-5 run that sliced the lead to 54-50.
 
Six straight points lifted Iowa's advantage to 63-51, but the Bulldogs charged back again. Knutson's transition 3 on a pass from Dinnebier, who had five assists, and Dinnebier's three free throws after getting fouled on a shot from behind the arc drew the Bulldogs to 64-59 with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
 
Iowa answered with triples from Taylor McCabe and Mallegni to take a 71-60 lead and Drake never mounted a serious challenge again.  Dinnebier gave the Drake faithful one last chance to cheer when she hit back-to-back threes in the final minutes to reach the 40-point mark. That pushed her career total 1,370 and moved her past four players into 23rd place on Drake's career list.
 
Many of the players on that list attended the game as part of the 50-year recognition. That group included a former player on the Iowa bench, Jan Jensen, who faced her alma mater for the first time as the Hawkeyes' head coach. Drake started its women's basketball program with a 78-65 victory over Iowa at the Drake Fieldhouse on Nov. 20, 1974.
 
The two rivals have played tight, high-scoring games at the Knapp Center in recent years and this one started that way. Drake buried four early 3-pointers to take a 12-8 lead. Iowa countered by going to the 6-foot-4 O'Grady inside, but the Bulldogs ran off the final six points of the quarter for a 25-21 lead. The Bulldogs led by five points on three occasions in the second quarter, the last time at 32-27 on Dinnebier's two free throws.
 
Iowa scored the next six points for a 35-32 lead before Aalsma hit a trey to produce a tie at 35. But the Bulldogs went scoreless the rest of the half and never regained the lead.
 
"We ended up coming up short in a number of categories and just didn't have answers for a few different things," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said, "especially the difference in points in the paint. Iowa was physical, they were ready. I'm extremely proud of our squad, but this is a good Iowa team. We definitely need to get focused on the details…we're just a couple steps short, a couple seconds late. But we'll get there and stay extremely hungry."
 
Drake, which lost at Creighton last Monday, will continue a challenging stretch of the schedule with a game at Iowa State next Sunday. The Bulldogs then play three games in San Juan, Puerto Rico and won't play at home again until meeting North Dakota on Thursday, Dec. 12.
 
 
NOTES

• Drake, suffering its second straight loss, fell to 2-2.
• Drake had a four-game nonconference home victory streak snapped.
• Drake tied a season high with 13 three-point baskets, while setting season highs in steals (nine), free throws made (24) and free throw attempts (32).
• Drake shot a season-low 28.6 percent from the floor (18-63), while also setting season lows in baskets (18) and assists (11).
• There were four ties and six lead changes in the game before Iowa went on a 10-0 run to break a 35-35 tie in the second quarter grabbing a 49-35 lead it never relinquished.
• Drake scored 26 points off Iowa's season-high 17 turnovers.
• Senior guard Katie Dinnebier scored a Missouri Valley Conference single-game high 40 points, scoring 28 of Drake's 38 points in the second half.
• Dinnebier's 40 points were the second highest by a player in the NCAA this season, trailing a 41-point game by Harvard's Harmoni Turner against Boston College Nov. 14.
• It also marked the first 40-point effort by a Drake woman since Lizzy Wendell notched 43 vs. Missouri State on Jan. 30, 2015.
• Dinnebier made 17 free throws which tied for the highest by a player in the NCAA this season with Shania Nichols-Vannett of Indianapolis against Southern Illinois Nov. 16.
• Dinnebier's 20 free throw attempts tied for the second most by a player in the NCAA this season. 
• Dinnebier's seven three-point baskets tied for the third most by a player in the NCAA this season.
• Dinnebier enjoyed her 18th career 20-plus scoring game (first this season).
• Dinnebier's seven three-point baskets tied for the third most in a Drake single game.
• Dinnebier's 17 free throws made tied for the third most in a Drake single game.
• Dinniebier scored 12 of Drake's first 14 points to open the third quarter.
• Dinnieber moved into No. 23 on the Drake career scoring list with 1,370 points.
• Senior forward Anna Miller grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, marking her 33rd career game with 10-plus rebounds including her third this season.
• Iowa, winning 20 of the last 21 meetings against Drake, improved its record in the all-time series to 31-25.
• Drake plays at No. 8 ranked Iowa State next Sunday, Nov. 24.