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ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The University of Evansville women's basketball team overcame a nine-point halftime deficit to grab a four-point lead early in the second half in Friday afternoon's Missouri Valley Conference Women's Basketball Tournament quarterfinal, but No. 5 seed Drake closed the game on a 22-8 run to defeat the Purple Aces, 71-61.
 
Junior Kat Taylor led Evansville (15-15) with 13 points and was one of four Aces to score in double figures.  MVC Co-Freshman of the Year Sara Dickey finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, while fellow freshman Dakota Weatherford tallied 11 points and seven assists and senior Miranda Liles scored 10 off the bench.
 
Drake (16-14), who entered the afternoon as the MVC's top three-point shooting team, came just one trey shy of tying the record for the most triples made in an MVC Tournament game, as the Bulldogs finished 12-for-35 from beyond the arc.
 
DU hit four of its first five three-point attempts to take a 14-11 lead just over four minutes into the contest and MVC Co-Freshman of the Year Lizzy Wendell led Drake's first-half three-point barrage by hitting a corner three to extend the Bulldogs' advantage to 20-12 with 12:44 remaining in the first half.
 
DU led by double digits at 32-22 with 8:15 left in the opening stanza, following a deep three from MVC Player of the Year Kyndal Clark and grabbed a 15-point lead, when Liza Heap sank a triple of her at the 3:13 mark , but UE was able to chip away at the margin and pull within nine at the half, 44-35, following a pair of Mallory Ladd free throws just 35.8 seconds before the halftime horn.
 
Evansville quickly grabbed the momentum in the opening minutes of the second half, when Weatherford hit two free throws, after being fouled on an offensive rebound, and converted on an and-one opportunity on the Aces' next possession.  Freshman Sasha Robinson came away with a steal to start the fast break, before dishing to Weatherford, who was then fouled on a made layup to bring UE within five at 47-42 with 18:06 on the clock.
 
Evansville took its first lead of the second half, when Taylor converted yet another and-one chance to put the Aces in front, 50-49, with 15:27 remaining.
 
Dickey capped an 11-0 run for UE by hitting a three from the left corner to extend Evansville's margin to 53-49 with 12:42 left to play, as the Aces' defense held Drake without a field goal for over nine minutes.
 
Emma Donahue came off the bench and immediately ended the Bulldogs' drought by making back-to-back layups to tie the game at 53-53 at the 9:24 mark, but Liles answered with a pair of free throws on UE's ensuing possession to put Evansville back up by two.
 
With just under six minutes to play, Wendell hit the Bulldogs' 12th and final three-pointer of the game to put DU back ahead, 58-55, before Wendell later capped a 13-4 Drake run, after banking in a  layup, following a no-look pass from Clark that put the Bulldogs up for good at 62-57 at the 4:43 mark.
 
DU was able to seal the game by limiting Evansville to a 2-for-9 effort from the field over the final 4:43 and converting its free throws down the stretch for the 71-61 victory.
 
Wendell led all scorers with 28 points on a 9-for-18 shooting effort and Clark finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.  Heap also finished in double figures with 11 points, going a perfect 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from long range.
 
Evansville will now wait to see if its season will continue with a bid to one of three postseason tournaments.