Bradley BRAD 4-24,1-17 MVC

Drake DU 18-12,9-9 MVC

Bradley BRAD

4-24,1-17 MVC

Final

Mar. 10, 2022

Drake DU

18-12,9-9 MVC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Bradley BRAD	10	10	23	13	56
Drake DU	18	15	19	19	71

Box Score

Women's Basketball Season Ends with MVC Tourney Loss to Drake

Young Braves unable to overcome cold-shooting first half in 71-56 loss

Photo Gallery

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 3/10/2022 10:39:00 PM | Bobby Parker, Sr. Associate AD for Communications and Event & Facility Operations

MOLINE, IL – Isis Fitch led three Bradley student-athletes in double figures with 14 points and the sophomore forward matched her career-best with a game-high seven rebounds, but it was not enough to prevent No. 7 seed Drake (18-12) from earning a 71-56 win against the 10th-seeded Braves (4-24) in the first round of the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Championship Thursday night at TaxSlayer Center.

Thursday's first-round meeting was a rematch of the 2021 MVC Women's Basketball Championship, which the Braves won to earn their first-ever trip to the NCAA Tournament. Bradley suited up only one player, senior guard Tatum Koenig, who played more than six minutes in last year's title game, however, and the youngest team in The Valley struggled to get their offense on track Thursday.

Shooting just 27.6 percent (8-29) from the field in the first half, Bradley trailed 33-20 at the intermission. The deficit grew to 17 points on three occasions early in the third quarter, the last at 42-25 with 6:34 left in the period, before the Braves heated up. Fitch scored on a lefty hook shot in the lane with 6:08 left in the half, launching a 13-4 surge in a span of just 3-minutes, 14-seconds that helped the Braves cut their deficit to 46-38 with 2:54 left in the third.

Bradley settled for a 52-43 gap after 30 minutes, but Drake put the game away by scoring the first 13 points of the fourth quarter.

Maggie Bair scored a game-high 17 points for Drake and Anna Miller contributed to a balanced Bulldogs attack with 10 points. Named the MVC Freshman of the Year during the All-Conference Awards Ceremony between first-round games Thursday, guard Caroline Waite scored 12 points for the Braves and senior guard Tatum Koenig completed the double-digit scoring efforts with 10 points.

Drake advances to the tournament quarterfinals and a matchup against No. 2 seed Missouri State Friday night.

NOTES: Waite made 3-of-8 3-point field goals Thursday, becoming the fifth student-athlete in program history to sink at least 70 3-point field goals in a season … Waite's 71 treys on the season are the second-most ever by a Bradley freshman (75 by Michelle Lund in 2008-09) and equal the fifth-best season total in Bradley history … Koenig dished out two assists to finish the season with 100, becoming the third student-athlete in Bradley's last 25 years to score at least 300 points (336) and dish 100 assists in a season … Koenig also passed Braves head coach and former Bradley student-athlete Andrea Gorski for fourth place in program history with 361 career assists … Koenig's 37 minutes also pushed her career total to 3,555, moving up one spot into third place in program history for career minutes.

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