Drake (9-16, 4-11) closed the game on a 17-3 run over the final 7:15 to come-from-behind to defeat Wichita State (9-16, 4-11), 67-64, Friday night inside Charles Koch Arena. Drake trailed by as many as 20 in the first half, but gradually cut away at the deficit and took its first lead of the game with :41.9 seconds, holding on to win by three. 

 

 

Wichita State's Antionette Wells scored a game-high 21 points to record her third 20-plus point performance in the last four games. Kiki Stephens finished with 14 points while Taylor Steven and Kyrie Kinder also reached double-figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Bulldogs were led by Kelsey Keizer's 20 points. Ashleigh Brady came off the bench to score 16 points while Monique Jones registered a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

 

 

The Shockers opened the game on a 24-6 run over the first seven-plus minutes, thanks in part to eight early points from Wells, and great shooting, as WSU hit 10 of its first 12 shots on the night, including a 4-for-5 clip from long range.

Drake responded with a 10-2 run by Keizer, as she brought the Bulldogs back into the game with her first 10 points of the evening, capped by a layin with 10 minutes left that cut the Shocker lead to 26-16.

The Bulldogs cut the lead to as few as six with just under four minutes left in the first, but back-to-back buckets by the Shockers extended the lead back to 10 with 2:30 left in the half. 

WSU scored five of the final six points of the half to take a 43-29 lead into the break, its second-best first half scoring total of the season, after scoring 45 against Prairie View in December.

After opening the half shooting 10-of-12, the Shockers cooled off to shoot 50 percent the rest of the frame for a 65 percent clip from the floor. Drake shot 45 percent in the first, but WSU hit five three-pointers en route to a 56 percent effort from long range to keep the Bulldogs down by double-digits at the break.

Drake used an 11-4 run midway through the second half to close the Shocker lead to 59-50 following a Jones layin with 7:40 left, and a Whorton three with just over six minutes left trimmed the advantage to just 61-53. 

Keizer's three-pointer with 4:25 left put the Bulldogs right back into the game, down by just five, before Ashleigh Brady's layin with just under four minutes left made it a three-point game, 61-58.

Whorton missed a pair of free throws with just over a minute left that would have given Drake the lead, but Keizer's layin with :41.9 left gave DU just that, its first lead of the night, and made it a 65-63 edge after the free throw.

Kiki Stephens had a chance to tie the game with a pair of free throws, but could connect on only one. The Shockers were forced to foul and Whorton connected twice from the free-throw line for the 67-64 final score.