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Springfield, Mo. -- The Wayne State University women's basketball squad (23-8 overall), playing its third game in four days against a ranked opponent, was unable to record its third consecutive win over a top tier GLVC team in falling to sixth-ranked Drury University (27-3 overall) 99-63 Monday evening in a NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen contest.

WSU had knocked off #29-Indianapolis on Friday and No. 11-Lewis yesterday.

Drury's 6-7 graduate student Amber Dvorak scored eight points in the first 90 seconds as the hosts raced out to an 8-2 advantage.

The Warriors battled back to within three points (9-6) as senior Imari Redfield (Detroit, Mich./Country Day) made a pair from the foul line and Destiny Lavita-Stephens (Grand Blanc, Mich./Goodrich) followed with a lay-up following a steal by junior Ondrea Hughes (Kalamazoo, Mich./Loy Norrix).

The Panthers responded with a 10-1 run over the next three minutes to increase their margin to 12 (19-7) at the 14:45 mark as Sanayika Shields converted an old fashioned three-point play, the third such play by DU in the first 5:15 of the game.

WSU junior Shareta Brown (Pontiac, Mich./Grand Blanc) drained a triple cutting the deficit to nine (19-10), but Drury made 3-of-4 from the foul line as the Warriors were whistled for six fouls in the first 6:41.  Junior Kayla Bridges (Canton, Mich.) tallied back-to-back buckets, then classmate Jackie Jones (Detroit, Mich./Martin Luther King) connected on a jumper to make it a six-point contest (22-16) with just under 11 minutes left in the first half.

Seven straight Panthers points restored a double-digit lead, then Drury closed out the final 10 minutes of the first half on a 29-12 spurt for a 56-28 lead at intermission.

DU shot 58 percent in the first 20 minutes on 22-of-38 including 5-of-10 from behind the arc.  Meanwhile, WSU was held to 28 percent (8-of-29) and just 14 percent (1-of-7) from three-point range.  Drury also held a 26-15 edge in rebounding with the teams combining for just five (WSU-3, DU-2) first half turnovers.

Brown led WSU with 11 first half points while three Panthers (Shields-17, Dvorak-13 and Annie Armstrong-10) were in double figures.

Wayne State scored the first eight points of the second half as Lavita-Stephens hit a triple, Jones scored on a fast break lay-up after a steal by Brown, then Brown concluded the stretch with a conventional three-point play.

The 20-point deficit would be as close as the Warriors would get in the final 20 minutes.

Brown finished with a team-high 19 points, while Lavita-Stephens added 14 and Redfield contributed 10 points.  Jones had a team-best three assists and three steals, while Hughes also chipped in with three steals.

Bethanie Funderburk and Shields tied for game-high scoring honors with 21 points with Shields grabbing a game-best nine rebounds.  Dvorak added 18 points and three blocks, while Armstrong had 12 points and seven assists.

Dvorak was voted as the Regional Tournament Most Outstanding Player.  Brown was named to the All-Regional tournament team along with Shields, Armstrong and Jamie Johnson from Lewis.

Wayne State equaled the school record for wins (23), NCAA tournament wins (2) with just one senior on the post-season roster.