DES MOINES, IOWA – As the excited shrieks from thousands of youngsters resonated through the Knapp Center, the Drake women's basketball team kept them entertained with a decisive victory. Eight players scored between seven and 11 points and Drake won for the third straight time, beating USC Upstate 84-34 on Monday in the annual Character Counts! Day game, which drew students from 47 schools around the state.
 
Drake squared its record at 5-5 for the season after a 2-5 start despite an uneven day offensively. The Bulldogs compensated by throttling their opponent from the Big South Conference on the defensive end, holding the Spartans (2-10) to 20.4 percent shooting, coming up with 17 steals and forcing 27 turnovers in all. The Spartans' 34 points were the fewest allowed by the Bulldogs since Iowa Wesleyan scored 25 during the 2017-18 season.
 
The steals were a season high, and the turnovers were the most by a Drake opponent this season. The shooting percentage was a season low for an opponent. Brooklin Dailey led the scoring with 11 points, which matched her career high. Ava Hawthorne added 10 points, while Katie Dinnebier, Anna Miller and Grace Knutson each scored nine. Freshman Maggie Taylor grabbed 11 rebounds to go with seven points, both career highs. Abbie Aalsma and Shannon Fornshell also scored seven points each.
 
Dinnebier moved from seventh to third on Drake's season list for steals with three in the game's first 6 minutes and finished with six to match her career best. She has 90 for the season, second behind Linda Sayavongchanh's 105 in the 2003-04 season. Miller's nine points lifted her into 30th place on Drake's career scoring list with 1,216. She also grabbed eight rebounds and matched her season highs with four assists and two steals.
 
An interesting moment in the game occurred in the first quarter when Miller fouled her sister Ava, a freshman for Upstate. Ava completed a three-point play off the foul and finished with 10 points and six rebounds. The two shared a long hug after the game.
 
Drake shot just 38 percent and suffered through a couple of long scoring droughts. But the Bulldogs finished a decent 14-for-38 from 3-point range – 10 of the 13 who played made at least one trey – and then there was that effort on defense.
 
Drake bolted to a 19-0 lead, holding Upstate scoreless until the 2:38 mark in the first quarter. The Bulldogs didn't give up a point in the second quarter until only 2:28 remained and started that quarter with a 12-0 run. It marked the second straight game that the Dogs got out to a lead of 18 or more points in the first quarter.
 
It was 40-14 at halftime and Drake gave up only one basket in the first 7:20 of the third quarter in stretching its lead to 55-17. By then, most of the regulars were out of the game for good. Fornshell was the last starter to score – a fast break layup with 1:59 left in the third quarter.
 
Taylor followed with a 3 from the top of the key, capping a 14-2 burst that made it 63-19. The Bulldogs led 63-21 going into the last quarter and would lead by as many as 52 in the stretch run.
 
Drake missed its first six shots of the game before getting things going from deep. Hawthorne broke the ice with a 3 from the left wing with 7:35 left in the quarter and that opened it up for her teammates.
 
Knutson, Fornshell, Peyton McCabe and Dailey followed with baskets from beyond the arc and in a span of a little more than 6 minutes, the game went from scoreless to 19-0.  Upstate responded with 10 straight points to stall Drake's momentum, but only temporarily. Hawthorne buried another 3 just before the buzzer for a 22-10 lead.
 
The defense clamped down again starting the second quarter and the Bulldogs added to their lead. Hawthorne scored on back-to-back layups, Dinnebier swiped the ball and took it for a layup and Miller hit two free throws. Aalsma sank a pair at the line and Courtney Becker caught an inbounds pass in the lane and scored to barely beat the shot clock buzzer, taking the lead to 34-10.
 
Dinnebier's 3-pointer – her final points of the game – and Taedyn Gray's free throw gave the Bulldogs their 40-14 halftime lead. Gray finished 5-for-6 at the line, grabbed four rebounds and blocked a shot.
 
Drake finished with a 48-29 rebounding edge, the eighth time in 10 games the Bulldogs outrebounded their opponent and had a 29-9 bulge in points off turnovers. During the middle two quarters, Drake held Upstate to five field goals and 11 points.
 
Drake will hit the road for its next two games, playing at St. Thomas on Dec. 29 and opening Missouri Valley Conference play at Evansville on Jan. 2. The Bulldogs' next home game is Jan. 2 against UIC at 6 p.m.


 NOTES

• Drake won its third straight game and improved to 5-5.
• Upstate scored just 14 points in the second half, tied for the fourth fewest allowed in Drake women's basketball history.
• Four of those points came in the second quarter, marking the fewest points allowed since a 4-point second period by Iowa State in last year's win over the Cyclones.
• The Spartans followed that with a 7-point third period.
• The Spartans' 34 points marked the lowest point total surrendered by Drake since beating Iowa Wesleyan 102-25 in the 2017-18 season.
• Monday marked the second straight game that the Dogs got out to a lead of 18 or more points in the first quarter.
• The Bulldogs held the Spartans (2-10) to 20.4 percent shooting, coming up with 17 steals and forcing 27 turnovers in all. The steals were a season high, and the turnovers were the most by a Drake opponent this season. The shooting percentage was a season low for an opponent.
• The Spartans' 34 points were the fewest allowed by the Bulldogs since Iowa Wesleyan scored 25 during the 2017-18 season.
• Brooklin Dailey led the scoring with 11 points, which matched her career high.
• Ava Hawthorne added 10 points, while Katie Dinnebier, Anna Miller and Grace Knutson each scored nine.
• Freshman Maggie Taylor grabbed 11 rebounds to go with seven points, both career highs. Abbie Aalsma and Shannon Fornshell also scored seven points each
• Dinnebier moved from seventh to third on Drake's season list for steals with three in the game's first 6 minutes and finished with six to match her career best. She has 90 for the season, second behind Linda Sayavongchanh's 105 in the 2003-04 season.
• Miller's nine points lifted her into 30th place on Drake's career scoring list with 1,216. She also grabbed eight rebounds and matched her season highs with four assists and two steals.
• Drake will hit the road for its next two games, playing at St. Thomas on Dec. 29 and opening Missouri Valley Conference play at Evansville on Jan. 2. The Bulldogs' next home game is Jan. 2 against UIC at 6 p.m.