Even as her team played Drake to a halftime tie on Friday night, Missouri State coach Kellie Harper knew things weren’t quite right.
Sure, it was 20 minutes of free-flowing basketball that kept the JQH Arena crowd of 3,225 entertained.
But it played right into the style of game that Drake likes to play.
“It was pretty for them, and it was too easy for them,” Harper said after Drake’s 82-75 victory. “We didn’t affect them the way we needed to affect them.”
The Lady Bears (9-6 overall, 2-1 Missouri Valley Conference) never led in the second half, but were within three points at the midway point of the fourth quarter.