MOLINE, Ill. – Bradley battled back from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to pull within four in the closing minutes, but #2 seed Missouri State was able to hold off the Braves Friday for a 76-68 victory in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament quarterfinals at the TaxSlayer Center.
Missouri State (20-10 overall) had its largest lead of the night at 66-51 with 6:39 to play on a Danielle Gitzen breakaway hoop, only to have Bradley (13-18 overall) make a late push to make it a two-possession game in the final three minutes.
Freshman Gabi Haack, who hit five three-pointers for the second consecutive night, started the late run with a three-pointer. Missouri State's Abby Hipp would answer with a layup to give the Bears a 68-54 advantage nearing the midway point of the period.
Bradley scored the next six points as freshman Nyjah White sandwiched a pair of jumpers in the lane around a Shunseere Kent layup to open what would be a 12-2 BU run. An Alexa Willard layup for Missouri State pushed the Bears' lead back to double digits (70-60) closing in on the four-minute mark.
Senior Danielle Brewer answered with a three-point play and Haack's fifth three-pointer of the night with 2:26 left on the clock pulled Bradley within four at 70-66 to mark the closest the Braves had been since the final minute of the second quarter.
A pair of Gitzen free throws with 1:14 left pushed the MSU lead back to six, but Kent had a layup with 56.7 seconds remaining to keep it a four-point contest. The Kent hoop were the final points of the night for the Braves, however, as Bradley missed its final two shots and Missouri State added a pair of free throws to end BU's season with a 76-68 victory.
The first quarter went back and forth with the lead changing hands six times in addition to three ties. Bradley led 11-10 before a three-minute drought which allowed Missouri State to score the next seven points and build a 17-11 lead. Kent had a driving layup at the one-minute mark and a Schlueter three-pointer made it a one-point game at 17-16. Missouri State's Brice Calip beat the first quarter buzzer with a basket, however, as Missouri State led 19-16 at the end of the first.
Missouri State opened the second quarter with a 9-3 spurt to build a nine-point lead (28-19) midway through the frame. The Braves got hot late rebounding from a 2-for-6 start from beyond the arc to make four of its last triples in the final 4:30 of the first half and pulled within four at 37-33 on Kent's third three-pointer of the period. Missouri State's Liza Fruendt hit a high-arching buzzer-beating three-pointer from the top of the key to give the Bears a 40-33 edge.
In the third, Missouri State stretched the lead out to as many 13 points, before a Vanessa Markert layup and three-pointer pulled the Braves within eight with just under two minutes in the period. The Bears would score final five points of the third to push the advantage back to 13 (57-44) heading to the fourth.
Kent scored a season-best and game-high 22 points, connecting on three three-pointers. Haack finished with 17 points and made 5-of-7 from beyond the arc. The freshman already has the most career three-pointers in MVC Tournament play in school history with 10 and finished her rookie season with a team-best 327 points for the fifth-best freshman point total in program history (most since Heather Best in 1995-96 – 340 points).
Despite battling foul trouble most of the contest, White matched a season-high with 14 points on 7-of-8 shooting. Junior Vanessa Markert tallied seven points and 10 rebounds to help Bradley to a 38-34 rebounding advantage in the loss.