DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake women’s basketball team could not hold on in a wild finish and Northern Iowa escaped with a 70-69 victory at the Knapp Center on Wednesday night, knocking the Bulldogs out of a tie for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.

UNI’s Maya McDermott dropped in a runner with 4 seconds left to give the Panthers their first victory in Des Moines since Jan. 24, 2016, ending Drake’s five-game winning streak in the series. The Bulldogs got a timeout with eight-tenths of a second remaining and inbounded the ball to Katie Dinnebier, but Grace Boffeli blocked her shot at the buzzer.

Poor shooting dogged the Bulldogs (8-5, 3-2) from the start, but they managed to take a 57-50 lead into the final quarter because of sharp free throw shooting. But the Panthers (9-5, 4-1) clawed back and made two big shots at the end to win it as the lead changed hands four times in the last 22 seconds.

Drake, which had a three-game winning streak snapped, falls to 8-5 including a 3-2 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. UNI improved to 9-5 on the season with the win.