It was a battle of teams looking for bragging rights in central Iowa as the Iowa State women’s basketball team traveled to Des Moines and fell to Drake 78-64 in an extremely hard-fought game.

“They are an outstanding team,” Coach Bill Fennelly said. “If we made a mistake, either offensively or defensively, they made us pay. At times, we didn’t know what to do, and you can’t do that on the road or against a good team.”

Janel Grimm found herself matched up against players three to four inches taller, yet she was able to pop in 23 points and grab six rebounds.

ISU actually out-rebounded the taller Bulldogs 20-16 in the first half. Olson nabbed five in the stanza on her way to 12 points and six boards.

“Janel Grimm is an outstanding player,” Drake Coach Lisa Bluder said. “I’m glad she is a senior. Jayme Olson caused a lot of match-up problems for us. Those are two of the best post players we will play against all year.”

The inside powers for Drake, Haley Sames and Tammy Blackstone, were able to get good position down low much of the time, but solid help defense by Grimm, Olson and Monica Huelman in the first half shut down the big dogs. The Cyclones led 26-25 at the half.

But it was a totally different story after the intermission.

In the second stanza, the Bulldogs began entering the ball to the post from the top of the key, which immobilized the double-team and allowed Blackstone to get some easy looks. She led Drake with 20 points, while Sames had a career-high 19.

“Haley Sames had some big shots,” Fennelly said. “We were forced to double-team Blackstone, so we decided to make Sames beat us, and she did.”

The two team’s starters were evenly matched, but the difference was in the bench.

Blackstone was able to stay out of foul trouble, enabling her to play 35 minutes, nearly double her previous average.

“It was a great feeling at halftime when I ran in and realized that I didn’t have any fouls,” Blackstone said.

“We needed to get her into foul trouble,” Fennelly said. “When we couldn’t get to their bench and we had to play ours, they definitely had the advantage. Also, I knew if the score got into the 70s, we would be in trouble. They did a great job of pushing the ball.”

Another key was the injury to ISU guard Megan Taylor. She crashed into the basket standard in the first half, causing back spasms. She still finished with 12 points and seven rebounds.

The Drake defense played tenaciously, causing numerous loose balls along. They forced 12 first half Cyclone turnovers and 21 overall.

“As the point guard, I need to take better care of the ball,” Stacy Frese said. “I haven’t done a very good job of that all year long. Their guards were very scrappy.”

Frese had 11 points and dished out eight assists.

ISU will try to bounce back on Saturday at noon against Iowa at Hilton Coliseum.