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.

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.