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MOLINE, Ill.  --  Eighth-seeded Wichita State fell, 56-51, to ninth-seed Bradley Thursday afternoon at the 2016 Missouri Valley Conference Championship at the iWireless Center.
 
WSU was led in scoring by sophomore Rangie Bessard's 17 points while TaQuandra Mike had 16 points to back her. Bradley was led by Tamya Simms' 11 points and Leti Lerma' 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
WSU finished the season 8-22 overall while Bradley advances to play No. 1 seed UNI on Friday.
 
For the game, BU out-shot the Shockers, 46.7 (21-45) to WSU's 32.1 percent (17-53), and each team finished with 20 turnovers.
 
In the third quarter, BU gradually built its lead back to 11 at the :57 mark, out-scoring WSU, 15-9, in the 10-minute frame to take a 41-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
WSU went down by 13 at 7:39 on a jumper by Lerma before a three-pointer by Mike and a basket by Bessard made it 46-38 at 6:18.  The two teams traded baskets and BU went back up by nine twice over the next four minutes.  Mike made two three-pointers in 50 seconds to help cut the lead to five, 54-49 at 2:02, but the Braves held on for the win as each team made two free throws to fashion the final score.
 
After scoring a combined four points in the first five minutes of the game, Wichita State and Bradley warmed up to score seven and nine points, respectively, through the remainder of the first quarter. BU shot 41.7 percent (5-12) to the Shockers' 27.3 percent (3-11) to take an 11-9 lead. A combined 17 turnovers in the first quarter slowed down the scoring, as well.
 
Bradley increased its lead to as many as 12 by the 3:03 mark of the second quarter on a Yelle basket and free throw. The Shockers closed the gap to 26-21 over the last three minutes of the quarter with five points from Bessard and two from Chapel, who scored at the buzzer.
 
WSU improved its shooting to 31.8 percent (7-22) in the half, while Bradley shot 37 percent (10-27). Bessard led five Shockers who scored with eight points while Tinjum had seven points to lead eight Braves who scored.
 
WSU ended the first half with 15 turnovers to the Braves' nine.