WICHITA, Kan.--Another career best night for sophomore Jacie Hoyt, including a last-second three, could not hold off the hot-handed Bradley Braves as the Shockers fell, 69-49.

Hoyt played all but one minute of the Missouri Valley opener, leading the Shockers with 21 points?five better than the career high that she totaled against Mercer on Monday. No other Shocker would reach double-digits. Senior Daria Frazier followed Hoyt with nine.

For the Braves, freshman guard Michelle Lund lit up the scoreboard early in the evening, helping her teammates hit a collective five-consecutive three pointers in the first and second halves. Lund finished the game with 15 points. Lund was one of many Braves to get hot from the floor Friday night, as the Braves shot nearly 58 percent from the floor in the first half and 43 percent on the game.

Much like the Shockers' last home match-up, sophomore Hoyt kicked off the evening's offense. The guard drove to the basket and drew the foul for a three-point play. Much unlike the Shockers' last home match-up, the visitors quickly retaliated. The Braves scored 15-straight points, led by three consecutive buckets from Lund.

Hoyt snapped a six-minute Shocker scoring drought with a jumper, narrowing the Braves' lead, 15-5. During the drought, Bradley amassed a 12-point lead, the largest deficit surrendered by WSU since playing at Memphis on Nov. 28.

Through the first 10 minutes of the game, Bradley did its job defensively grabbing seven steals while holding  Wichita State to just 20 percent from the floor.  In that time span, while the Braves shot with 50 percent accuracy.

Battling back, junior guard Marisah Henderson lifted a steal of her own and turned it into a lay up to bring the Shockers closer, 24-11. The Braves, however, were relentless. Following a hustle three-point play by junior Ashley Gladden, Bradley freshman Hanna Muegge nailed a contested three-pointer. The shot made the Braves a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc and stretched the lead, 30-14, with less than five minutes to play in the half.

The remaining five minutes only played into Bradley's favor. The Braves went on an 10-3 run, hitting nearly 58 percent from the floor. Fitting for the half, Bradley freshman MacKenzie Westcott drilled a jump shot to beat the buzzer to send the game to halftime, 40-17.

After sitting out a chunk of the first half with foul trouble, Lund picked up where she left off in the second half. The freshman knocked down a pair of threes to continue the Braves run of perfection from three-point territory at 5-for-5, and growing their lead, 50-25. The run would stop there as the Shockers' defense kept the Braves from hitting their next 10 attempts.

Seniors Marcy Sudbeck and Daria Frazier began making more of an impact to help combat the potent offense. Each hit a pair of baskets and Hoyt added another three-point play to prove the fire was still very much alive in spite of the lopsided score, 53-28.

Ignoring the score, WSU showed its ability to battle on defense. Midway through the second half, the Shockers had already picked seven steals and forced 15 Bradley turnovers.

Unfortunately for the Shockers, the effort wouldn't make much of an effect. Even though the Shockers continued to battle with the efforts of Hoyt and Henderson driving to the basket and Frazier and Sudbeck grasping for rebounds, Bradley never allowed its lead to decrease. For the remaining eight minutes of the game, the Shockers never trailed by less than 20.

A long, buzzer-beating three from Hoyt summed up her undying effort on the night.

The Shockers are in action again quickly as they will play host to the Panthers of Northern Iowa on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 2:05 p.m.

-Wichita State-