Bradley BRAD 12-15, 6-10 MVC

Drake DU 20-7, 15-0 MVC

Bradley BRAD

12-15, 6-10 MVC

Final

Feb. 23, 2018

Drake DU

20-7, 15-0 MVC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Bradley BRAD	18	21	20	12	71
Drake DU	20	17	18	22	77

Box Score

Duane Zehr

Bradley Upset Bid Falls Short At Drake 77-71

Box Score

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 2/23/2018 10:08:00 PM

DES MOINES, Iowa – Bradley threatened to put an end to league-leading Drake's 36-game Missouri Valley Conference win streak, but the Bulldogs closed Friday's game at the Knapp Center with a 10-3 spurt to pull out a 77-71 victory over the Braves and earn at least a share of the Valley regular-season title.

Freshman Gabi Haack buried 6-of-12 three-pointers and finished with 22 points, while junior Vanessa Markert added 17 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes to help lead Bradley (12-15 overall, 6-10 MVC).

Drake (20-7 overall, 15-0 MVC) matched the longest win streak in MVC or Gateway Conference history with its 37^th consecutive league win and guaranteed at least a share of the regular-season Valley title with the victory.

"That is the toughest we have played," said Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski. "That's all we've been asking for is toughness. I thought we controlled the boards; that's toughness. We got after loose balls; that's toughness. I would have liked to hit some of those shots down the stretch, we just couldn't get them to fall."

The game featured 14 lead changes and five ties before Drake's late push. Drake scored the first six points of the game, only to have sophomore Chelsea Brackmann answer with three straight baskets to tie it up at 6-6. The first of six Haack three-pointers gave Bradley a 9-6 advantage with 3:27 to play in the first, but Drake would hold a 20-18 edge 10 minutes into the contest.

After Drake extended the lead to as many as nine points (27-18) early in the second quarter Bradley would make a push. Markert started a 10-0 BU run with a layup and Haack followed a Drake turnover with a three-pointer. Freshman Emily Marsh had a layup and Danielle Brewer chased a defensive stop with a three-point play with 3:20 left in the second as Bradley went ahead 31-29. The Braves would go on to lead 39-37 at the half on a Shunseere Kent buzzer-beating layup.

Bradley ended the second quarter with an 8-0 run and came out strong in the second half, extending the lead to six (46-40) less than four minutes into the third on a Haack baseline jumper. Another Haack three-pointer later in the frame gave the Braves their biggest lead of the night at 55-48 nearing the three-minute mark of the third quarter.

Seven of the 14 lead changes took place in a dramatic fourth quarter. Bradley led 59-55 heading into the period, but the Braves were forced to call a timeout after Drake scored the first seven points of the frame. Markert ended the Bulldog run with a layup and a Nyjah White layup gave Bradley a 63-62 edge closing in on five minutes left.

Drake's Becca Hittner got free inside for a layup, but Haack found Markert for a layup of her own as the lead see-sawed back and forth. Sammie Bachrodt hit a three-pointer on the next Drake trip down the floor only to have Haack answer with her sixth three-pointer of the game on the fourth Bradley shot attempt of the possession as the Braves led 68-67 with 2:52 to play.

A Maddy Dean three-pointer with 2:42 erased the BU advantage, however, and opened a 10-3 Drake spurt to close the game. A steal led to another Dean basket after the three-pointer and Bachrodt, who scored nine in the fourth, followed a pair of Bradley free throws with a three-pointer of her ownto give the Bulldogs a 75-70 cushion with just under two minutes to play.

Markert split a pair of free throws with 1:26 left to cut the deficit to four (75-71), but the Braves missed their final two shots in the closing minute and Hittner added a pair of free throws as Drake hung on for the 77-71 victory.

Haack moved up two spots into eighth on Bradley's freshman scoring list and now has 283 points in addition to tying Katie Yohn for the second-most three-pointers by a Bradley underclassman with her 57^th trey of the year.

Bradley outrebounded Drake 41-35 and committed just 10 turnovers in the loss.

The Braves close out the road portion of the 2017-18 schedule Sunday with a 2 p.m. game at Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

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