Despite shooting just under 25 percent from the floor against Drake Thursday evening, the Missouri State Lady Bears had three shots in the final minute of play to even the score after trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half. But the Bulldogs’ defense held when it mattered most, propelling DU to a 61-58 Missouri Valley Conference victory in women’s college basketball at Hammons Student Center.
After Drake took its largest lead of the night on Lindsay Whorton’s three-pointer with 14:19 to play, Missouri State answered with a 20-7 scoring run over the ensuing 10 minutes. Tahnee Balerio, who scored 19 of her 21 points in the second half, teamed with fellow senior Tiff Terwelp to rack up 17 of those points to help the Lady Bears draw to within 50-46 with 4:52 left on the clock.
The Bulldogs responded with by scoring eight of the next 10 points to push their lead back to double digits with just 2:44 to go. But Balerio took advantage of Drake’s charity to convert six straight free throws, and Tiffany Coppage’s three from the right wing cut the margin to just two points with 1:16 left to play.
After Whorton knocked down one of two free throw attempts, Balerio and Maggie Dwyer each had looks from three-point range that would have knotted the score at 60, but both were off target. A foul called on DU’s Moniqu Jones sent Balerio back to the line, where she made one of two tries to pull the Lady Bears to within two points. Jill Martin was successful on one of two foul shots with 19 seconds left, giving MSU one final chance to even the score. But the Bulldogs’ perimeter defense got the job done, as the Lady Bears could not get off a potential game-tying three-pointer before the final horn sounded.
Martin led all scorers with 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, while Balerio and Terwelp shared team-high scoring honors for MSU with 21 points apiece. Terwelp also grabbed a game-high 13 boards to notch her 11th double-double of the 2007-08 season and the 20th of her Missouri State career.
Drake took control of the contest late in the first period by scoring the last 13 points of the half, limiting the Lady Bears to just two field goals over the final 12:24 of the period. Martin scored 11 of her 17 first half points during the critical run that saw the Bulldogs turn an 18-18 ballgame at the 5:24 mark into a 31-18 halftime lead.
The Bulldogs, who entered the game with the Valley’s top scoring defense, would hold Missouri State without a field goal for over nine minutes spanning the end of the first half and the first 2:43 of the second stanza. Drake pushed its lead to 16 before Terwelp’s basket at the 17:17 mark ended the dry spell.
DU, which limited MSU to just 21.7 percent shooting in the two teams’ first meeting of the season in Des Moines on Jan. 4, held the Lady Bears to 21.9 percent from the floor in the first half and just 24.6 percent for the game. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, shot .500 (13-of-26) in the opening period and 47.7 percent on the night. They also cashed in at the foul line in the second half, hitting 13 of their 17 attempts to improve to 19-9 on the season and 12-5 in conference play, just one game behind league-leading Evansville entering their final contest of the season Saturday at Wichita State.
Missouri State, which fell to 10-18 overall and 8-9 in the Valley, needs a victory in Saturday’s regular-season finale against Creighton to remain in the hunt for either a No. 5 or 6 seed in next week’s State Farm MVC Tournament in St. Charles, Mo. The Lady Bears and Bluejays tip-off at 7:05 p.m. in the final contest at Hammons Student Center.
