A story I wrote in March 2012

The quarterfinals of the 2012 Women’s Missouri Valley Conference Tournament was all about upsets as the defending champion and number two lost.

The Bradley Braves (16-14, Peoria, Illinois), who are coming off an opening round win, faced the number one seed Missouri State Bears (21-7, Springfield, Missouri).

It was a tight first half as both teams traded shots and there were many fouls as both universities went to the line five times.

Bradley had a first half lead, 26-24.

The second half was close as well as the Braves were leading 54-52 with two minutes to go. After a Missouri State timeout, Lacey Boshe, senior forward for the Bears, hit a two-pointer to tie the game at 54.

Bradley then fouled sophomore guard Karly Buer, who hit both shots and to give her team a 56-54 lead.
The Bears then stole the ball from Bradley to seal a 58-54 victory.

“We kept fighting and we didn't give up. Our defense really helped us out a lot,” Casey Garrison said, senior guard for the Lady Bears. “I think our press also really helped us out a lot, and we made our free throws at the end when we needed to.”

Quarterfinal number two saw the Creighton Blue Jays (18-12, Omaha, Nebraska), take on the defending MVC champs - the Northern Iowa Panthers (16-13, Cedar Falls, Iowa).

Both teams shot 35 percent from the line in the first half, but it was Creighton who had the lead 30-23 entering the second half.

The Blue Jays jumped out to a 15 point lead, but their shooting touch was gone, the last field goal they made was with 6:16 left in the game. However, they still managed to win 53-46.

The second to last quarter final was between the Drake Bulldogs and the Illinois State Redbirds.

With 10:51 left in the game, the Redbirds had a seven point lead, but it went all downhill as their star senior guard Katie Broadway, who had 20 points at the midway point of the second half, missed all of her shots. Down she went and down went the Redbirds as they could not find the basket.

The Bulldogs staged a furious comeback. Drake freshmen guard Kyndal Clark hit a two pointer with eight seconds left to upset the Redbirds, 56-54.

"On the second to last shot I felt like I kind of had the edge on her and I was off balance but, I just threw it up there and it went in,” Clark said. “On the last one I knew (Jamie) Russell was going to come in under me and try to swoop it, or try to block me, so I knew I had to adjust my shot, but at that point I knew I just had to make it.”

For Broadway, this ends her college basketball career. “It’s been a great one. Not the outcome we wanted and not the outcome I wanted for my last year,” Broadway said. “It’s been fun playing for these girls and I’ll be sad when it’s over. So hopefully we continue on and get to play some games.”

The final quarter final was between the Wichita State Shockers (18-11, Wichita, Kansas) and the Indiana State Sycamores.  It was all Shockers with a 70-49 win.