Addi O'Grady's career-night pushes Hawkeyes past Drake at the Knapp Center

The Knapp Center was loud and rowdy from the opening tipoff on Sunday afternoon, as Iowa squared off with Drake in an always intense in-state rivalry matchup. A second quarter flurry gave the Hawkeyes a ten-point lead at the half and Iowa held strong in the second half to pick up an impressive 86-73 win over the MVC favorite Bulldogs. In their first true road test of the season, Iowa looked calm and collected through much of the game.

“I think we handled (the environment) really well,” said senior Addi O’Grady. “Obviously, they went on their runs, but we really limited it, and we didn’t let the crowd, or the refs or anything outside of our team get to us.”

The home crowd was rocking out of the gates, with the Bulldogs knocking down four three pointers in the first four minutes, including two from point guard Katie Dinnebier to take a 12-8 lead.

Iowa weathered the opening storm by getting it inside to center Addi O’Grady early and often. She was virtually unstoppable in the paint, scoring 14 of the Hawkeyes first 16 points. Playing in the largest role of her college career, O’Grady was confident and firing on all cylinders. She finished with a career-high 27 points on 13 of 21 shooting, as well as ten rebounds. It’s just the second double-double of her career.

“They were switching between zone and player (defense) and I think they were over rotating, which led to easy buckets for me,” said O’Grady. “I had guards on me a lot of the time in the first few minutes of the game, so I was able to take advantage of that. My teammates were doing a really good job of getting me the ball.”

“Back to our Gustafson years and Czinano years, when we have won it, that inside presence, if you can stay pretty efficient with how you score, you can counter all of their small ball action,” said Jan Jensen. “We were hopeful that Addi was going to have a game…The biggest compliment I can give her is I’m now starting to have Czinano and Gustafson expectations. The expectations are only growing because I know she can do it.”

All the hype for Addi O. 🔥@addiogrady22 x @CaitlinClark22 #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/cJGKhwlVx7

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) November 17, 2024

A feverishly paced first quarter ended with Drake going on a 6-0 run, giving them a 25-21 lead. The pace, and the scoring slowed down in the second quarter, with both teams enduring four-minute stretches without a made field goal. Iowa snapped out of the lull first, scoring a couple of baskets, but a three-pointer from Abbie Aalsma tied the game at 35 with two minutes to play in the half.

Then came the Hawkeyes late flurry. A 10-0 run in the final 120 seconds, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers from freshman Teagan Mallegni sent Iowa to the locker room with a 45-35 lead. Jan Jensen called it the turning point of the game.

“That was really huge, especially for our relatively younger team in the minutes they’ve played in big games,” said Jensen. “I thought that was a really huge spurt, just to go in (to the locker room), and they kind of knew that they did something well. I think it might have swung the game.”

“The team just really stepped it up and played really well. We were grittier in that stretch, which led to those baskets,” said Mallegni

Drake missed their first five shots of the second half and trailing 49-35, point guard Katie Dinnebier took it into her own hands to try to lead a comeback. She hit three three-pointers in the span of two minutes to cut the Iowa lead to 54-49. The Knapp Center crowd was back in it and Jan Jensen opted to take a timeout to settle her team down.

“I think our staff stayed steady and sometimes I try to remember how I liked to be coached and how I liked to be motivated when the chips were down and I try to stay steady,” said Jan Jensen. “I tried to celebrate what they were doing well and also giving credit to Drake. It’s a game of runs and so I kept telling them, look you’re answering. Yes, we’d given it up, but we did this. I think they really believed that and bought into that.”

The Hawkeyes led just 64-59 late in the third quarter, but back-to-back three-pointers from Taylor McCabe and Teagan Mallegni stretched the lead back to double digits heading into the fourth quarter. Every time Drake whittled down the deficit, it seemed like Iowa had an answer of some sort.

As back-and-forth as the game was through the first 30 minutes, Iowa’s lead was never in much doubt in the final quarter. Back-to-back baskets from Addi O’Grady stretched the lead to 76-60 and while Katie Dinnebier tried to keep Drake in it with a career-high 40 points, the mountain was too much to climb. Taylor McCabe buried a dagger from long distance, ballooning the lead to 82-65 with four minutes to play and Iowa closed out the 86-73 victory.

“We got more people involved. Obviously, right away it was working going inside to me and Hannah,” said O’Grady. “Once they started packing the paint, we were able to dish it out for some easy threes and got our guards off of some cuts. Getting everyone involved, that really speaks to how much we’re all looking to set each other up.”

Addi O’Grady led the charge offensively, with Lucy Olsen pouring in 18 points, four rebounds and six assists. Hannah Stuelke added 16 points and seven rebounds, while Teagan Mallegni and Taylor McCabe combined for six made three-pointers.

On the night, Iowa shot 34 of 65 (52.3%) from the floor and 7 of 20 (35.0%) from three-point range. They outscored Drake 46-10 in the paint and outrebounded them 41-39. The Hawkeye defense held the Bulldogs to 26.5% shooting in the second half.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes travel to Sioux Falls for a neutral site matchup against the Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday at the Sanford Pentagon. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm CT on the Big Ten Network.