CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Drake University women's basketball team righted the ship with a hard-fought 79-71 win at rival UNI this evening. The Bulldogs used a staunch defensive display and benefitted from Katie Dinnebier's first-career triple-double to down UNI (7-12, 6-4) in Cedar Falls.
 
The Bulldogs (16-5, 9-1) won the tip and promptly put the first points on the board as Grace Berg collected a Courtney Becker dish and banked one in. UNI answered on the other end with a deuce from MVC Preseason Player of the Year Grace Boffeli.
 
The Drake offense continued to click early on as Becker finished a back-cut score to cap off a quick 7-0 run and force a Panther timeout. The Bulldogs extended their lead into double figures for the first time after the pause as Becker sprinted the floor for another bucket and Katie Dinnebier sank a pair of free throws.
 
Anna Miller added to the visiting Bulldogs' hot start with the game's first three to make it 17-2 in Drake's favor. The Drake offense was supplemented by a superb defensive start as UNI managed just two points through the first seven minutes of action.
 
Megan Meyer made her return to the Drake women's basketball team official towards the end of the first period when she checked into the contest. Meyer and the Bulldogs held on to a 22-10 lead after the first quarter. The 2023 Drake University graduate then made her presence known on the Bulldogs' first possession of the second quarter with a high-arching three pointer that found the bottom of the net for her first points of the season.
 
The Panthers were able to get back on track a bit in the second quarter after guard Emerson Green went down with an apparent leg injury. UNI rallied behind their injured starter into striking distance at 39-29 before a perfect display of transition defense from Dinnebier and the Dogs gave the visitors a fast break opportunity of their own. Grace Berg spotted up and buried a triple, the Bulldogs' first of the opening half.
 
UNI ramped up their zone defense down the stretch of the first half, forcing a turnover with under a minute on the clock. Boffeli worked her way into scoring position as rattled in an elbow jumper to make it 42-34 at halftime.
 
A Kayba Laube three-pointer got the Panthers back within five not long into the second half as both defenses came out aggressively. Ava Hawthorne got into the scoring column with a pair of run-out layups, the second of which lengthened Drake's lead back to double-digits. Dinnebier later connected again from deep for her second trey as Drake got back in front by a dozen. The Bulldogs' three-point spurt continued with an Ashley Iiams' second triple of the evening.
 
The Panthers threatened again as the clock ticked under 60 seconds in the third quarter. Rachael Heittola penetrated and scored to keep the UNI deficit manageable, but Berg answered on the other end with another three, Drake's 10th of the game.
 
The Bulldogs led 65-54 with 10 minutest to play.
 
The fourth quarter started with another sturdy defensive possession for Drake as the Panthers failed to get a shot off for their third shot clock violation of the contest.
 
UNI got going after a sloppy start to the final period, eventually cutting Drake's lead to just six points with six minutes to play. Berg halted the Panther comeback with a fast break basket on a precise three-quarter-court feed from Dinnebier.
 
Dinnebier took another turn from behind the arc, splashing in her fourth three-pointer of the night before Taylor McAulay dialed in from deep range. Drake held on to a 75-66 advantage at the final media timeout of the matchup. The Panthers continued to keep things close as the final buzzer approached but clutch free throw shooting and a string of defensive stops secured the win for Drake, 79-71.
 
Dinnebier made more history during her junior season with a 17-point, 11-rebound, 10-assist triple-double, just the second in program history and the first of her career. Her 11 boards were also a career high.
 
Grace Berg led Drake's scoring effort with 20 points, her sixth game of the year with at least 20 points.
 
Anna Miller and Courtney Becker also reached double figures on the glass with 10 rebounds and 12 rebounds, respectively. Miller added five blocks to lead all players and climb into sole possession of second on Drake's all-time blocks list.
 
"This is a very, very good UNI team and we knew we had to be ready from the start," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said. "I was proud of our team to be able to get scores and stops right away. We're halfway through the conference schedule so I just wanted to see a fiery group coming in…and our team was so fired up and we got better. Every game we play is a big one and it's special coming back [to Cedar Falls] and playing as well as we did."
 
The Bulldogs will return home after their recent three-game road stretch for a pair of MVC matchups. Drake is set to conclude two season series as Bradley (Feb. 8) and Illinois State (Feb. 10) come to town.
 
 
NOTES
 

• Drake's win improved the Bulldogs record moved to 16-5 overall and 9-1 in the MVC.
• Drake is now 7-3 away from home this season.
• The Bulldogs never trailed in the game.
• The win got Drake back to .500 (3-3) when playing on Saturday this season.
• Drake shot 12-for-32 from three-point range for its seventh game with double-digit made treys.
• The Bulldogs' eight blocks matched their single-game high as a team this season.
• Drake outrebounded UNI 46-37, improving to 12-3 this season when collecting more rebounds than their opponents.
• Katie Dinnebier posted her first career triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.
• It was the second triple-double in program history after Caitlin Ingle logged 14/11/10 in 2015.
• Grace Berg scored exactly 20 points for her sixth 20-point outing of the season.
• Berg's 20 points moved her up two spots to No. 14 on Drake's all-time scoring list. She passed Tricia Wakely (1992-96) and Kiersten Miller (1994-98).
• Courtney Becker led the Bulldogs on the glass with 12 rebounds.
• Anna Miller added 10 rebounds and a game-high five blocks. She now sits alone in second on Drake's all-time blocked shots list.
• Drake now leads the all-time series with UNI, 71-27.
• The Bulldogs have as many wins at UNI as the Panthers do overall in the series (27).