Drake women's basketball takeaways: Bulldogs motivated by close call vs. Louisville

Drake women’s basketball player Katie Dinnebier couldn’t help herself. Over the course of the summer, Dinnebier opened her laptop and pulled up footage of her team’s 83-81 heartbreaker to fifth seed Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. She watched it over and over again, maybe five or six times.

Two words kept creeping into her head each time.

“Dang it,” Dinnebier said with a smile during her team’s media day Thursday.

That close call with Louisville in last season’s NCAA Tournament doesn’t linger with the Bulldogs as much as it motivates them these days. Drake nearly knocked off the Cardinals in the contest that included 14 ties, 12 lead changes and a Bulldog lead in the third quarter. But Drake missed some costly layups, watched the lead slip away and let a huge upset slip through its fingers.

“We were there,” Dinnebier said. “It’s just that feeling, ‘Oh wow, we were so close,’ but it’s also a reminder of we’re a really stinking good basketball team. When we’re clicking, we’re clicking. And we were playing our best basketball in March.”

The season was still a successful one for the Bulldogs, who won 22 games, celebrated a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title and made a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. While they’ve moved on from last season, Drake coach Allison Pohlman admits the game against Louisville may have added some fuel to the team’s fire in the offseason.

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“I do think they all have the edginess to know that a couple more layups and we probably would be talking about a lot of different things,” Pohlman said. “So I think that drives them. I think that excites them.”

Here are some other takeaways from Drake’s media day:

How will the Bulldogs replace Maggie Bair?

The biggest concern for Drake this season may be finding a way to replace power forward Maggie Bair. The former star for the Bulldogs averaged a team-high 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game last season. She now plays professionally in Spain. Pohlman said they’ll look at a number of players to help fill her void. Anna Miller was last year’s MVC Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year. The Bulldogs also brought in 6-foot-1 freshman Shannon Fornshell. Pohlman said they could also utilize the versatility of Grace Berg and lean on Courtney Becker and Taylor McAulay.

“We’re not trying to fill in for Maggie by committee,” Pohlman said. “What we’re trying to do is be a brand-new team with a brand-new sort of image. So I really hope what you see is something where you could see a lot of really good characteristics in this brand-new team.”

Anna Brown could be a big offseason addition for the Bulldogs

The Bulldogs added some strong shooting in the offseason by picking up Anna Brown. The 5-foot-10 guard was teammates with Dinnebier at Waukee. Brown then went on to become a four-year letter winner at Loyola-Chicago, where she played in 99 games for the Ramblers and averaged 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game as a senior. Brown led the team in made 3-pointers last season.

“When she drives in and parks at the tennis center, she’s ready to shoot,” Pohlman said. “What we’re able to do is stretch the floor and keep good spacing, things of that nature. AB just shoots the ball extremely, extremely well.”

Grace Berg put her pro career on hold to play for the Bulldogs again

Darke star Grace Berg had a decision to mull over after the season. She could either end her college career and go play professionally like she had dreamed off. Or she could come back for another season with the Bulldogs. But after the successful season Berg had, she said there were never really any doubts. Berg, who has her sights set on playing pro ball in Italy after college, quickly decided to come back.

“Why would I not want to come back?” Berg asked. “We just won. This is fun. I get my Master’s degree paid for. I don’t want to have a big-girl job. I just think of all the reasons why not to and I truly do love playing and this is a great team and I love Allison and all the coaches.”

Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake women's basketball motivated from last season's ending in NCAAs