CHAMPAIGN, ILL. ? A remarkable season for the Drake women's basketball team came to a close on Monday (March 24) as Lacey Simpson connected on a pair of free throws with four seconds remaining to propel Illinois to a 48-44 victory over the Bulldogs in second round action of the Women's National Invitation Tournament.

Drake set the stage for a dramatic ending in the affair as senior Lindsay Whorton (Independence, Mo./Truman) brought Drake to within one, 45-44, on a jumper in the lane with 43 seconds remaining.

The Bulldogs denied the Fighting Illini on the ensuing possession but the rebound on Lori Bjork's three-pointer with 27 seconds remaining went off a Drake defender and kept the ball in the hands of Illinois.

Having been whistled for only one foul up to that point in the second half, the Bulldogs were forced to commit six fouls just to send Illinois to the line.

The strategy almost worked as Bjork made her first free throw with six ticks left before missing the second. The loose-ball rebound fell into the hands of Simpson who secured the win with her heroics at the line.

The Bulldogs concluded their campaign at 23-11 following the setback, while Illinois moved onto a third-round date with Marquette at 20-14.

“I'm really proud of the way we defended tonight as we did an excellent job of executing our game plan” Drake head coach Amy Stephens said. “We knew how hard it would to score offensively but we still put ourselves in position to win the ballgame.”

Drake finished the contest shooting 35.2 percent, while Illinois exited the contest connecting on 42.9 percent of its attempts.

Sophomore Jordann Plummer's (St. Louis, Mo./Cardinal Ritter) 11 points directed the Bulldog attack. Senior Jill Martin (Norwalk, Iowa/Norwalk) finished her record-setting Drake career with 10 points, including a team-high six rebounds. Whorton added nine points in her final tilt as a Bulldog.

Simpson paced all scorers with 14 and she was joined in double-figures by Chelsea Gordon and Jenna Smith with 10 points apiece.

Illinois registered a 35-28 advantage on the boards, which it converted in a 28-18 scoring margin in the paint.

Drake committed only 12 turnovers, including only three in the second half, while forcing the Fighting Illini into 16.

After a slow start which saw the Bulldogs fall behind 8-0, Drake on the strength of baskets from five different players went on a 12-0 run to assume a 12-8 advantage at the 10:16 mark.

The Fighting Illini went back ahead 15-12 before Martin hit her second first-half three-pointer to knot the contest at 15.

From there, the two sides exchanged baskets before Illinois closed the initial stanza on an 8-0 run to take a 25-19 halftime lead.

Drake finished the first half shooting 33.3 percent, while the Fighting Illini connected on 42.9 percent of their attempts.

Martin paced all scorers in the first 20 minutes with eight points.

After a Gordon basket to start the final 20 minutes gave Illinois an eight-point lead, 27-19, the Bulldogs rattled off six unanswered points to cut the margin to 27-25.

The Fighting Illini fired back a run of their own as Illinois went on an 8-0 skein to take a 37-27 lead with 13:18 remaining.

The Fighting Illini went 7-for-10 to start the final half before the Bulldogs defense went to work holding Illinois without a field goal on eight straight possessions, while going on a 12-4 run to shrink the margin to two, 41-39, with 3:27 remaining.

A Smith jumper at the 3:15 mark ended a 7:40 stretch without a field goal for the Fighting Illini and put Illinois ahead, 43-29, setting the stage for the action of the final minute.