DES MOINES, Iowa – After staging its biggest comeback of the season three days ago, the Drake women's basketball team couldn't quite pull it off again.
 
The Bulldogs erased UIC's 12-point lead and pulled ahead briefly before the Flames regained their footing and spoiled Drake's Senior Day with a 69-61 victory at the Knapp Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
Drake (8-18, 7-9) got a season-high 15 points from Lexi Carlsen and double-figure scoring from Abbie Aalsma and Brooklin Dailey. But the Bulldogs went cold after getting back into the game with a torrid third quarter and their winning streak ended at two games.
 
Aalsma and Dailey each scored 11 points, with Dailey shooting 4-for-6, grabbing three rebounds and handing out three assists. Carlsen, a sophomore who transferred in from Northern Illinois, went 6-for-9 from the field with two 3-pointers in her best game as a Bulldog.  Her traditional three-point play produced the game's final tie, and she knocked down a triple to pull Drake to within a point with just under three minutes remaining.
 
Aalsma and Ava Hawthorne were honored in Senior Day activities after the game. Hawthorne finished with five points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal.
 
Down 42-30 midway through the third quarter, the Bulldogs began to chip away at the lead and drew to 45-41 when Grace Knutson took a pass from Anna Becker out of the low post and swished a trey from the right corner. After a UIC basket, Drake finished the quarter with eight straight points to take its first lead since 17-16.
 
Dailey converted a 3-point play off a strong drive to the hoop, Quinn Vice hit a 3 from the left wing and Knutson beat the buzzer ending the quarter with a short baseline jumper, the ball hitting the front of the rim and rolling in, giving the Bulldogs a 49-47 lead. Drake shot 84.6 percent in the third quarter (11-of-13) and outscored the Flames 25-15.
 
When Carlsen raced in from the perimeter to grab an offensive rebound and bank in a soft shot at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs had gone on a 21-5 run and led 51-47.
 
Then the shots stopped dropping on the other end.
 
UIC ran off six straight points to regain the lead and the Bulldogs led only once after that, 55-53 after Dailey scored on a reverse layup and putback.  The Flames answered with a 5-0 burst before Carlsen's three-point play tied it again, this time at 58 with 4:48 left.
 
But Drake hit only one shot after that, a trey from Carlsen that drew the Bulldogs to 62-61 with 2:58 left. They did not score again.
 
Drake went just 5-for-18 in the final quarter and missed its final six shots to finish at 43.9 percent for the game. After going 12-for-23 from distance in their 78-62 win at UIC in late December, the Bulldogs slipped to 6-for-21 in this one.
 
The two seniors helped their team get off to a solid start. Aalsma swished a 3 and went in for a layup after a steal and Hawthorne buried a trey of her own for an 8-4 lead. A bucket inside from Quinn Vice and Dailey's two free throws made it 12-8 and the Bulldogs needed only 16 seconds to add to the lead. Aalsma grabbed a rebound on the defensive end and hit Hawthorne for a layup on a fastbreak for a 14-8 edge with 4:30 left in the quarter.
 
But the Bulldogs missed their last five shots of the period and UIC ran off 13 points in a row for a 21-14 lead going into the second quarter. The Flames started the second quarter with a basket to stretch their run to 15-0 before Carlsen hit a three-ball from the right wing to end a Drake drought of almost 6 ½ minutes.
 
UIC continued to fend off the Bulldogs after that, leading 32-24 at halftime and then stretching that lead to 12 before Drake rallied.
 
"We found ourselves once again in a first half that we didn't execute well, didn't come out ready to go," Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman. "We allowed [UIC's] best offensive players to get whatever they wanted, and they were really good in the paint. This was 100 percent on coaching, and I didn't do a good enough job getting our team ready today. Down the stretch, in moments we needed baskets, we had turnovers. Have to understand where and when the ball needs to be, and we just weren't sharp enough today."
 
The Flames (13-14, 8-8) hit Drake with a 1-2 punch of Julia Coleman (23 points) and Jessica Carrothers (20). The two combined to go 19-for-31 from the field as UIC shot 47.4 percent as a team and outrebounded the Bulldogs 33-25. The Flames won in Des Moines for the first time and for just the third time in the 14-game series.
 
Sunday's game completed a three-game homestand for the Bulldogs, who finished with three of four on the road. Next up is a game at Evansville on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 6 p.m.
 
Notes

• Drake, which had a 2-game winning streak snapped, fell to 8-18 overall including a 7-9 record in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• The Bulldogs slipped to 4-10 at home
• Drake shot 43.9 percent (25-57) including 51.6 percent (16-31) in the second half
• There were five ties and six lead changes in the game.
• UIC closed out the game with a 7-0 run to break away from a 62-61 edge.
• The Bulldogs missed their last five shots of the game, ending the contest without a basket in the last 2:56.
• Trailing 42-30, Drake closed out the third quarter on a 21-5 run with 15 points from reserves Lex Carlsen, Quinn Vice and Grace Knutson who each scored five points in the period to grab a 49-47 lead. Drake also shot 84.6 percent in the third quarter making 11 of 13 shots.
• After making 12 three-point baskets in a 78-62 victory at UIC December 29, Drake was limited to six three-point baskets (21 attempts).
• Drake made five of nine free throws compared to visiting UIC making 14 of 19 free throws.
• Sophomore transfer guard Lexi Carlsen netted a season-high 15 points, bettering her previous high of 13 in the first meeting at UIC December 29.
• Senior Abbie Aalsma and sophomore Brooklin Dailey added 11 points apiece.ed Drake with 19 points as the Bulldogs improved to 6-3 when she scores 19 or more points in a game.
• Aalsma scored seven points in the first half, while Dailey had nine points in the second half. 
• Drake, which had a five-game winning streak against the Flames snapped, leads the series against UIC, 11-3,
• This was the Flames' first win in Des Moines since 2023.