The visiting Drake Bulldogs handed Missouri State its first Missouri Valley Conference loss of the season Friday evening by an 82-75 final at JQH Arena in a battle of the league’s top two teams in the preseason poll.
MSU fell to 9-6 overall while Drake moved to 9-5, and both teams are 2-1 in league play.
The Lady Bears fell behind 10-2 early but clawed back to within a point at 19-18 on Audrey Holt’s jumper, and again at 22-21 when Liza Fruendt buried a 3-pointer with 2:09 left in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs countered with an 8-0 run to go ahead 30-21 before Kenzie Williams buried a trey with 5:41 left in the first half for MSU’s first lead of the game at 33-32, and Hillary Chvatal hit a baseline jumper on the next possession to cap a 35-32 run.
Four ties and four lead changes followed to a 42-42 deadlock at halftime, but Drake scored first in the second half and never relinquished its lead.
The Bulldogs pushed the margin to 54-47 midway through the third quarter, and made it an eight-point game at 57-49 with 2:17 on the clock before Tyonna Snow scored the last five points of a 7-0 MSU run that cut the gap to 57-56 with 11.3 seconds left in the period.
Drake beat the third-quarter buzzer with a 3-pointer before Snow converted her second 3-point play of the half with 7:34 remaining for a 64-61 deficit. Danielle Gitzen scored to make it a one-possession game again at 66-63, but Drake made its next seven field goals, including an 8-0 run to lead 79-67, as the Lady Bears could get no closer.
Snow scored 18 of her game-high 24 points in the second half, including a 14-for-15 showing at the foul line that ranks as the seventh-best single-game free throw total in MSU history. Snow also moved to fifth in career makes at Missouri State.
Williams finished with 17 points, passing Karen Rapier for 13th place on MSU’s career scoring list, and Chvatal added 11 to go with eight rebounds, which made her the 22nd Lady Bear with 500 career boards.
Drake won the rebounding battle, 43-33, and shot 48.5 percent in the game and 56.7 percent in the second half while knocking down 12 of 26 attempts from long range.
The Lady Bears made 22 of 27 free throws, including their final 18 of the game, but only shot 38.1 percent from the field after a 7-for-28 second half.
Missouri State blocked 10 Bulldog shots in the game, the most since January 2011, with Chvatal and Onye Osemenam each stuffing a career-high three shots.
MSU takes on UNI (7-7, 2-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Panthers won 55-44 at Wichita State on Friday.
