Drake women's basketball takes down Belmont as three Bulldogs score double figures

A third quarter featuring five lead changes had the Drake women’s basketball team on edge and six points behind Belmont heading into the final frame Friday night at the Knapp Center.

Coach Allison Pohlman and her staff used the break to urge their players to “drop-kick” the rusty start to the second half of their 69-65 victory in a rematch of last season’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament title game.

The defending tournament champion Bulldogs were outscored 22-15 while shooting 5-for-19 from the field in the third quarter.

“Heading into the second half, the undertone of the conversation was mostly like, ‘Nowhere to go but up from here,’” Pohlman said. “Throughout that third quarter, I felt like we really held on to some frustrations.”

Grace Berg heard every word from the coaching staff. The graduate student from Indianola scored 12 of her 16 points in the final 10 minutes, including a twirling layup that gave the Bulldogs (13-4, 6-0) a 66-65 lead over the Bruins (12-5, 5-1) with 1:28 remaining.

“It was more of just getting back in our groove; just getting back to us,” Berg said. “Most of the game it was a little herky-jerky.”

It took Berg only nine seconds into the fourth quarter to cut Drake’s deficit to three points. She converted a layup, was fouled, and made the resulting free throw to change the score to 52-49.

“However her mindset shifted for that fourth quarter, we really, really needed that,” Pohlman said of Berg, who scored in double figures for the 11th consecutive game.

Alone atop the Valley

When the night was over, Drake had earned its seventh straight win and sole possession of first place in the conference standings after Murray State (12-3, 5-1), its next opponent, lost 95-75 at Northern Iowa (5-9, 4-1).

“In the Missouri Valley Conference, every single night it’s a game, and every single night it’s a grind, and you’ve got to make sure that your team’s ready to go,” Pohlman said. “And our ultimate goal is just trying to get better each and every time we step on the floor.”

Drake’s 12 wins coming into the game had all come by double digits. But the Bulldogs responded Friday in a back-and-forth affair to snap the Bruins’ five-game winning streak.

The Bulldogs scored the final 11 points of the first half to erase a 10-point deficit and take a 31-30 lead into the intermission. Pohlman mixed up Drake’s defense from a matchup zone to a 1-on-1 look.

“We were letting people get loose just a little bit too much, and I’m really proud of our efforts to switch and to adjust defenses and then to still have success,” Pohlman said.

Dinnebier held in check

Katie Dinnebier, the Missouri Valley’s leading scorer who came into Friday averaging 19.1 points per game, tallied a season-low five points on 1-of-12 shooting. It was the first time Dinnebier scored less than 10 points since March 11, 2023, against Illinois State.

“She just does all those little things,” Berg said of Dinnebier. “She sets the tone on defense. She gets us going in all aspects. And other people really stepped up tonight.”

Dinnebier found other ways to contribute, playing smothering defense to record three steals, and she tallied nine assists. The junior guard made 1-of-2 free throws with 15 seconds left to cap the scoring and give the team a two-possession lead.

“I think Katie night in and night out does exactly what our team needs, exactly when we need it,” Pohlman said. “So if she has to facilitate and dish out assists or end up with rebounds or just really lock down their best defender, that’s exactly what she does.”

Despite her shooting struggles, Dinnebier was in good spirits after the win and took time to sign autographs for young fans.

Second chances

Drake came in leading the conference in field-goal shooting at 49.8 percent.

But Belmont, which leads the conference in scoring defense and shooting percentage defense, held Drake to a 39.1 percent mark from the field. It forced the scrappy Bulldogs to crash the boards, and they came away with a season-high 17 offensive rebounds and a 16-2 edge in second-chance points.

“On nights when maybe we don’t shoot it exactly as well as we normally do, having those second-chance opportunities, those second-chance points, really make a huge difference and they did this evening,” Pohlman said.

Senior forward Courtney Becker finished with six offensive rebounds and poured in a season-high 16 points to match Berg’s total. Fifth-year senior guard Taylor McAulay led the team with 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

Budding rivalry?

Friday marked the fourth meeting between Drake and Belmont, which joined the Missouri Valley before the 2022-23 season. The Bulldogs backed up their 89-71 win over the Bruins in the Missouri Valley tournament title game on March 12, 2023. Each team won at home during the 2022-23 regular season.

Belmont, located in Nashville, Tenn., won 14 straight games to finish the regular season and earned a share of the regular-season title alongside Illinois State.

The Bruins face Northern Iowa on Sunday in Cedar Falls.

Up next

Drake hosts Murray State (12-3, 5-1 Missouri Valley) at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Knapp Center in another matchup of top-tier Missouri Valley teams.

“It’s Des Moines hometown team weekend,” Pohlman said. “We get to wear the jerseys and get all hyped, and I really hope that the Bulldog faithful, and plenty of others, come out to support this team.”

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake women's basketball earns big MVC win over Belmont