ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Drake women’s basketball team (2-0) overcame a messy start in their first road matchup of the season to down the defending Atlantic-10 Conference champions, Saint Louis (0-1). The Bulldogs used a dominant second quarter to oust the Billikens by a 78-66 margin.

Prior to tip off, the Billikens took their turn in celebrating a 2022-23 conference tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth with pregame ceremony.

Katie Dinnebier led Drake’s offensive effort with 18 points on the night followed by Grace Berg with 17. Berg narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

Kyla McMakin gave Saint Louis their first lead at 9-7 at the first media break. After the pause, Anna Brown answered a short Billiken run by completing an and-one in transition to get Drake back within two. Saint Louis eventually led 18-14 after the first period with a combined 16 turnovers in the frame.

The second quarter started with another Bulldog giveaway off the inbound, but the deficit was trimmed back to two after pair of Taylor McAulay free throws and a Courtney Becker trey. McAulay knotted the score at 20-all after a Billiken miss and forced a SLU timeout.

The Bulldogs regained the lead after the atimeout with a Berg basket, part of a 15-0 run that spanned nearly five minutes. SLU ended the rally with a three-pointer of their own. The Bulldogs outscored the Billikens 20-9 in the quarter and led 34-27 at the half.

The Billikens began the second-half scoring with a smooth McMakin fader as both teams needed a few possessions to get back into rhythm. Becker eventually buried a triple midway through the period that extended Drake’s lead to double figures. The Drake defensive pressure picked up, forcing another SLU lull, this time a 3:55 streak without a field goal.

The Bulldogs held a 12-point lead at 45-33, their largest of the game to that point, but the Billikens got back within single digits. Brown and Dinnebier answered again with a spot up three and pull-up bucket on back-to-back trips. The Drake lead grew to 16 at the end of the third quarter.

Scoring stalled to start the fourth until a pair of Billiken freebies sliced into Drake’s advantage. Brooklyn Gray canned a three to get SLU within 11 as the Billiken’s tried to get comeback going. Saint Louis kept its hopes alive by instituting a full-court press as McMakin came through with an old fashioned three-point play, shrinking the Drake advantage to 10. Gray cashed in again on back-to-back hooks to get within seven.

Drake nixed the Saint Louis resurgence with another clutch three, this time from Berg, her first make in three attempts. The sixth-year player added two free throw to force an SLU timeout with just under a minute to play. The Billikens were forced to foul down the stretch and Drake was nails from the line, clinching 78-66 win.

“It feels so good [to win on the road],” Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said. “Credit to our team…credit to our coaching staff. We really only had one day to prep and knew they would jam the rebounds. Once we adjusted to the style of the game, we looked good on the boards. This experience is going to pay off so much.”

Next up, the Bulldogs will host their first of two-consecutive in-state rivalry games as Iowa State visits Des Moines on Sunday, Nov. 12.

Class A Semifinals

Woodbury Central 28 – East Buchanan 20

West Hancock, Britt 39 – Madrid 14

Class 4A Semifinals

Lewis Central 31 – North Polk 5

(Ames, IA) – The Iowa State Cyclones beat the Lindenwood Lions in men’s basketball action 102-47. The Cyclones gained control on the scoring side early as they earned a 20-2 lead with just 13 minutes left in the first half of action.

Iowa State’s Tamin Lipsey earned his career-high 21 points, with 15 points in the first half alone. He went 8-11 from the field and earned seven assists in the Cyclones win on Thursday. Milan Momcilovic went 3-7 from downtown and had 17 points while going 7-12 overall on the floor and earning four rebounds. Keshon Gilbert also had double-digits with 12 points and three assists. Robert Jones was right with Gilbert as he also had 12 points and four rebounds. The Cyclones forced a total of 22 turnovers and were led by Curtis Jones with five steals. Tre King also made his name well-known with six points and posted a game-high seven rebounds.

Lindenwood was led by Keenon Cole with 18 points and three rebounds. Jeremiah Talton had 13 points for the only two double-digit scorers for Lindenwood.

Iowa State will remain in Ames as they take on Idaho State this upcoming Sunday. The tipoff will be at noon in Ames.

(Lincoln, NE) – The Nebraska Huskers rattled the Florida A&M Rattlers 81-54. The Huskers led early and kept a hold of that lead throughout the game.

Nebraska newcomer Rienk Mast led in scoring as he scored 20 points and earned 16 rebounds for a double-double. Eli Rice earned 16 points and four rebounds while Brice Williams scored 16, six, and two assists. CJ Wilcher scored six points and dished out two assists. Both Josiah Allick and Jamarques Lawerence scored five points and Lawerence also pulled down five rebounds and dished out four assists.

The leading scorer for the Rattlers was K’Jei Parker with 13 points and six rebounds. Morrell Schramm scored 10 points and also grabbed three rebounds.

Nebraska will take on Rider at home this Monday, November 13th with the opening tipoff at 7:00 p.m.

(Charlotte, NC) – #3 Iowa wins over the #8 Virginia Tech Hokies 80-76 in women’s basketball action. It was back-and-forth action between the Hokies and the Hawkeyes as it came down the fourth quarter between the two as Virginia Tech forced Iowa to use four timeouts as they continued to climb back into the game, but not far enough.

Leading in scoring for the Hawkeyes was Caitlin Clark. Not only did she score over half the points for the Hawkeyes, she had 44 total points in the game, eight rebounds, and six assists. Clark is now just 16 points away from Iowa’s all-time scoring title of 2,804 points. Hannah Stuelke scored 12 points and also earned four rebounds for Iowa. The last player to score in double-digits was Kate Martin with 10 points, one rebound, and an assist.

Virginia Tech’s Georgia Amoore scored 31 points and one assist to lead the Hokies. Right behind her was Elizabeth Kitley with a double-double of 16 points and 16 rebounds. The last double-digit scorer was Carleigh Wenzel with 11 points and one rebound.

Iowa’s head coach Lisa Bluder is just five wins away from 500 career victories at Iowa. The Hawkeyes now lead the series 3-1 as coach Bluder is undefeated against the Hokies.

Iowa’s next game is on the road in Cedar Falls against Northern Iowa with the opening tipoff at 2:00 p.m.