ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Drake University women's basketball team held strong with the top seeded Wichita State Shockers late into the second half, but long scoring droughts doomed the Bulldogs as they fell 73-58, Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Family Arena.

A couple of scoring droughts proved to be too tough to overcome for Drake (11-20), as Wichita State used two scoring runs, one in each half, to help get by Drake. Turnovers plagued Drake, with Wichita State (22-9) scoring 28 points on 20 Bulldog miscues.   

Three Bulldogs scored in double-figures, with sophomore Liza Heap (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) and redshirt sophomore Carly Grenfell (York, Neb.) tallying 11 points each. Junior Morgan Reid (Kansas City, Mo.) added 10 points and five rebounds.

After taking a lead early in the second half, the Bulldogs struggled to convert from the field shooting just 30 percent on their first 10 shots of the half and watching Wichita State go on a 9-0 scoring run, taking a 49-44 lead with 11:44 left remaining.

"This was a game of two halves, "Drake head coach Jennie Baranczyk said. "Although we shot well in the first half, we didn't shoot so well in the second. Overall, obviously, we played the number one team in our conference. They're a great team with great balance."

This run proved to be critical to the game, as the Shockers continued on to a 19-3 scoring run to take control of the game, taking a 14-point lead, 61-47, at the official timeout with 7:35 remaining in the game. Drake shot 31.8 percent from the field in the second half, finishing the game with a 41.7 percent clip.  

Wichita State outrebounded Drake, 38-28, scoring 36 points in the paint and 17 on second chance opportunities. The Shockers shot 50 percent (15-of-30) in the second half, finishing the game with a 47 percent mark from the floor.

Drake jumped out to a quick start in the game, holding a lead for the first 15 minutes of the game, before the Bulldogs endured a dry spell of over five minutes that saw the Shockers go on a 17-0 scoring run to take a nine-point lead before Heap ended the run with a three-pointer with 1:33 remaining in the half. Her bucket sparked a 9-2 scoring run in Drake's favor to close the half, trailing Wichita State 36-34 at the break.

Sophomore Kyndal Clark (Webb City, Mo) scored all six of her points with less than a minute remaining in the first half, including a three-pointer off the backboard at the buzzer. Heap had eight points in the first half to lead Drake and Reid had seven, including her first career make from beyond the arc. Drake shot 50 percent from the floor and 57.1 percent from three-point range in the first half. The Bulldogs' eight three-pointers tied a season high in a half, previously set at UNI. Wichita State shot 44.4 percent in the first half.

"Our future is bright," Baranczyk said. "The two young women sitting next to me, [Kyndal Clark and Morgan Reid], these are our future leaders. I've seen a lot from them this entire season. I've seen them grow with character, with class, with grace, on and off the floor. So, I know that our young squad is going to be competing next season."

All-MVC first team selection, Alex Harden, scored 15 points for the Shockers, as did Chynna Turner and Michaela Dapprich. Michelle Price added 10 points.

Today's loss eliminated Drake from the MVC Tournament and concludes the season for the Bulldogs. Drake won four out of its final eight games. The Bulldogs have one senior, Stephanie Running (Oak Creek, Wis.), on this year's team.

"We're young," Clark said. "That's very evident. We lost one person, and we have new people coming in that are going to do great things. So I guess now we're starting to look forward and starting to look to the future. It's going to be as great as we make it. I think we're going to do great things. I think people are going to be shocked at what we can do."