In a battle between the two titans of the Missouri Valley Conference, Belmont women’s basketball lost to the Drake Bulldogs, 77-71 on Saturday.
Drake set the tone early winning the tipoff and rattled off nine straight uncontested points.
All was appearing lost for the Bruins offense until a much-needed Kilyn Mcguff three-pointer.
Even with this, Drake would largely keep control of the first quarter, but the Bruins clawed back through a tough-fought first quarter which ended with a last-second three-pointer from Blair Schoenwald.
The Bruins would finish with seven three-pointers in the half.
The game was tied 22-22 going into the second quarter.
Coming out of the break, Belmont would open with an early eight-point lead bringing the crowd to their feet and forcing Drake to call a timeout to regroup.
The game continued to be a clash of skilled set up-plays against a barrage of independent offense from the Bruins.
The game stayed close as Drake took a minimal lead going into the half, 42-40.
The Bruins would stay right on the Bulldogs' tail even with some costly turnovers in the second half.
Tessa Miller kept the Bruins in the game with eight points and seven rebounds in the third quarter, accounting for almost half of the Bruins offense for the quarter.
“I think she's an underrated post-player in this league. I think she's the best big guy in the league. And I told her at one of the time outs that ‘I’m gonna ride with her’ and she's learned to come out swinging and go after it,” said head coach Bart Brooks.
Miller finished with a career-high 24 points, along with 12 rebounds and 5 assists in a crucial outing.
Neither team took a commanding lead through the second half until the final four minutes of the game where Drake overpowered the Bruins and got a seven-point lead in the final two minutes.
“They did a great job answering some runs,” Brooks said. “They made some big, big shots down the stretch.”
The Bruins would fight until the very last second of the game continuing to foul and drive their offense in an attempt to play themselves back in but the Bulldogs pulled out with the win after going four for six on their final free throws.
“I'm not sure we had our best stuff today, for whatever reason,” said Brooks. “But usually we're really good at home and we got to get back to that.”
The Bruins will look to bounce back as they travel to Indiana on Thursday to battle against the Valparaiso Crusaders.
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This article was written by Braden Simmons