DES MOINES, Iowa — Drake used a 21-2 run in the second quarter and 59 percent shooting in the game to claim a 95-72 victory over the Missouri State Lady Bears Sunday afternoon at the Knapp Center in a match-up between the two clubs tied for the Missouri Valley Conference lead.
MSU (15-8, 8-3) had win streaks of six games overall, seven straight road games, and 10 consecutive MVC road games snapped, while Drake improved to 16-6 and 9-2 in league contests.
Missouri State never led as the Bulldogs made five of their first six shots on the way to a 13-4 lead. The Lady Bears cut the gap to three points on three occasions before a 13-0 Drake run made it 40-24 with 3:38 to play. Only two Liza Fruendt free throws broke up what ended up a 21-2 spurt that helped the home team lead 51-33 at the break after hitting seven 3-pointers in the second period.
The Lady Bears closed within striking distance at 60-45 when Fruendt hit a trey with 5:42 remaining in the third period, but Drake quickly countered to build its largest lead of the contest at 70-46.
Tyonna Snow hit back-to-back layups early in the fourth quarter to pull MSU to 73-58, and a Lee Ann Polowy triple made it 80-66 with 4:42 to play, but Drake scored the next six points to squelch MSU’s comeback attempt.
Snow scored 21 points to move to 13th on MSU’s career scoring list, adding six boards and four assists. Hillary Chvatal finished with 12 points and eight boards, Fruendt added 10 to surpass 500 for her career, and Swartz (9) and Polowy (6) registered season high scoring totals. Kenzie Williams also moved past Kelly Mago for ninth in school history in career scoring.
Drake’s .589 field goal percentage was the highest for an MSU opponent this year, and the Bulldogs connected on 10 of 19 shots from long range. The Lady Bears shot 35.6 percent and lost the rebounding battle, 40-34.
MSU will play five its final seven regular season games at home, beginning with weekend tilts against Loyola at 7 p.m. Friday and Bradley at 2 p.m. Sunday at JQH Arena.
