MOLINE, Ill.  --  No. 5 seeded Wichita State fell to No. 1 seed Drake, 86-68, in semifinal action in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament.

WSU ended the season at 15-16 overall while Drake improved to 27-4 and advanced to Sunday's championship game.

Rangie Bessard led WSU with 27 points and 13 rebounds, while Drake was led in scoring by Lizzy Wendell who had 34 points for the Bulldogs.

For the game, WSU shot  35.6 percent (26-73) while Drake was 31-of-71 for 43.7 percent from the field. Drake also led on the glass, 52-43.

After a WSU 33-27 halftime lead, Wendell scored Drake's first two baskets of the third quarter to cut the WSU lead to one at 33-32 at 9:22. The Shockers built two four-point leads over the next five minutes before Drake closed the lead to 43-41 at the media time out at 4:50.  Later, DU took the lead at the 3:30 mark and built a nine-point lead, 57-48, over the next 1:40 on a 14-3 run the forced a WSU timeout at 1:51. For the quarter, DU out-scored WSU 37-19 to take a 64-52 lead headed into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, Drake kept the game out of reach by out-scoring WSU, 22-16, for the quarter.

In the first quarter, Drake went up 4-0 before the Shockers got their first basket at the 7:00 mark. Over the next two and a half minutes Drake would score four points as the Shockers added just two free throws by Keke Thompson. The Bulldogs led 8-4 at the media timeout at 4:25. Later, WSU made three-straight baskets to take the lead, 11-10, at 2:09 on a trey by Preston. Each team scored five points down the stretch of the first quarter as WSU held a slim 16-15 lead.

In the second quarter, WSU out-scored Drake, 9-5, through the first 4:30 to take a 25-20 lead into the media timeout. Six of those points in the run came from Bessard, including a three-pointer at the 6:00 mark, while Preston added a three of her own at 4:59.  Preston came out of the media timeout and hit another trey to put WSU up, 28-20. The two teams traded baskets and DU cut the lead to four at the 2:10 mark on a basket by Wendell, but WSU extended the lead back to eight after a Bessard layup late in the quarter. An open Wendell layup set the halftime score at 33-27, WSU.

For the half, Preston's 13 points led the Shockers while Bessard backed her with 10 after two quarters. Wendell led Drake with 11 points. WSU narrowly out-shot the Bulldogs, 34.3 percent (12-35) to 33.3 percent (12-36). The Shockers also made 6-of-10 three-pointers while the Bulldogs missed all seven of their shots from the arc.

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