In Thursday MVC women's basketball action, all four victors put the game away by 10+ points, with the closest matchup in a battle of two of the league's hottest teams, UNI and Missouri State.  The Panthers outscored the Lady Bears 12-2 over the final two minutes to win 80-69, while Bradley and Drake won their first MVC games of the season in wins over Wichita State and Southern Illinois, respectively.  Creighton, one of two remaining undefeated MVC teams, was a 81-55 winner at Evansville.

UNI 80, MISSOURI STATE 69
UNI (9-5, 2-1 MVC); MSU (11-4, 2-1 MVC)
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The University of Northern Iowa women's basketball team outscored Missouri State 12-2 in the final 2:30 to turn a one-point lead into an 80-69 victory in Missouri Valley Conference action Thursday night in the McLeod Center.

With 2:27 remaining and the Panthers leading 68-67, Rachel Madrigal hit a three that gave UNI a four-point edge. UNI came up with a stop on the defensive end, and the Panthers finished 9-of-10 from the free-throw line in the final two minutes to seal the victory.

Lizzie Boeck led UNI (9-5, 2-1 MVC) with 19 points and nine rebounds, coming just one rebound short of a third straight double-double. Jacqui Kalin finished with 16 points and six assists, and Madrigal tallied a career-high 15 points. K.K. Armstrong added 12 points, and Erin Brocka finished with seven points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Missouri State (11-4, 2-1 MVC) was led by Casey Garrison, who finished with 19 points and seven rebounds. Lacey Boshe added 11 points and seven rebounds.

DRAKE 70, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 57
DU (7-6, 1-1 MVC); SIU (2-12, 0-3 MVC)
CARBONDALE, Ill. - A stellar defensive effort and a career night from junior forward Rachael Hackbarth powered the Drake University women's basketball team to a 70-57 Missouri Valley Conference victory over Southern Illinois Thursday at SIU Arena. Drake improved to 7-6 overall and 1-1 in the MVC. Southern Illinois fell to 2-12 and 0-3 in the Valley.

The Bulldog defense was relentless, forcing Southern Illinois into low-percentage shots as the shot clock ticked into single digits. Hackbarth helped carry Drake at both ends, registering her second double-double of the season with 18 points and a career-high 18 rebounds. 

Senior Kristin Turk registered 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. The Bulldogs improved to 7-0 when Turk scores 20 or more, compared to 0-6 when she does not.

Six-straight second half points by Turk helped Drake extend its lead from 49-46 at the 9:33 mark to 55-46 with 6:50 remaining. Back-to-back threes by Southern Illinois' Teri Oliver, who had been held scoreless for the game's first 34 minutes, cut Drake's lead to 57-52 as the clock hit 5:21.

The Drake defense held Southern Illinois scoreless during the next five minutes, going on an 8-0 run to solidify its lead and earn the victory. The Salukis tallied five points during the final 30 seconds, again behind Oliver, but dropped its third MVC contest of the season.

Following Angela Christianson's first missed free throw since Nov. 27, Southern Illinois led Drake, 25-22, at the six minute mark of the first half. Hackbarth and Turk led the Bulldogs on an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to earn a 30-25 advantage at the 3:58 mark. Drake and Southern Illinois entered the locker room with score tied, 34-34; a first for the Bulldogs this season.

CREIGHTON 81, EVANSVILLE 55
CU (8-5, 2-0 MVC); UE (6-8, 1-2 MVC)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Four Bluejays scored in double figures as the Creighton women's basketball team picked up an 81-55 win over Evansville Thursday night at Roberts Stadium.  Kelsey Woodard led all players with 17 points and freshman Alyssa Kamphaus scored a career-best 12 points in just seven minutes off the bench as the Bluejays shot 70.4 percent from the field in the second half to close out the blowout road win.

Evansville (6-8, 1-2 MVC) enjoyed its only lead of the game, up 7-5 four minutes into the game before the Bluejays (8-5, 2-0 MVC) put together a 12-2 run to take control of the game.  The Bluejays held the Purple Aces without a field goal for better than four minutes during the first half, in which the Bluejays led by as many as 15 points before taking a 37-24 lead into the halftime break.

The closest the home team could get in the second half was 13 points, as the teams exchanged buckets to start the half.  Creighton opened the second half on an 11-3 run to put the game away.  The final margin of 26 points was CU's largest lead of the game.

Woodard scored 13 of her game-high 17 points in the first half, knocking down 3-of-4 three-pointers in the opening stanza.  With her 17 points, she moved into 15th place in school history with 1,252 career points.  She also tied career-highs with seven assists and three steals.

Kamphaus, who did not play in the first half, poured in 12 points in just seven second-half minutes.  She made all five of her field goal attempts, including her first career three-pointer.  She also added a rebound, a steal and an assist.

Sam Schuett and Carli Tritz each finished with 10 points, as Schuett led all players with seven rebounds and Tritz paced the way with four steals.  Schuett now has 750 career rebounds, moving her into fifth place in school history.

Creighton finished 56.9 percent from the field, including 9-of-17 (.529) from three-point range.  CU was 19-of-27 (.704) from the floor after halftime.  The Jays out-rebounded UE 31-25 and out-scored the Aces 44-24 in the paint.

BRADLEY 68, WICHITA STATE 49
BU (8-6, 1-2 MVC); WSU (7-7, 1-2 MVC)
PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley held Wichita State to 29.7 shooting and owned a 46-31 rebounding advantage as the Braves cruised to a 68-49 victory against the Shockers Thursday at Renaissance Coliseum.  BU's reserves combined for 29 points with junior Leah Kassing scoring a season-best 12 points to help power the Braves to their first Missouri Valley Conference victory of the season.

Freshman Kelsey Budd scored the first nine points of the game for Bradley (8-6, 1-2 MVC) and had 11 points in the opening minutes to help the Braves to an early 22-15 lead.  Wichita State (7-7, 1-1 MVC) managed to pull to within three points, before freshman Kelly Frings scored nine points to highlight a 15-3 Bradley run which pushed the lead to 15 points (37-22) in the closing minutes of the half.

The Shockers scored the final six points of the opening half to trim BU's advantage to 37-28 at the break.  The Braves shot 58.3 percent in the first 20 minutes of play and finished the contest shooting 47.8 percent from the field.

Bradley went scoreless for the first 4:09 of the second half, but Wichita State managed just five points during that stretch to trim BU's lead to four points (37-33).  The advantage was 45-37 when the Braves put the game out of reach with an 11-2 run.

Sophomore Katie Yohn opened the spurt with a pair of free throws and junior Hanna Muegge followed a free throw with a jumper from the top of the key.  Muegge made it five consecutive points with a pair of free throws with just over nine minutes to play to put Bradley in front 52-39.  Senior Raisa Taylor and junior Lauren Niemiera each added a pair of free throws to cap the run to extend the lead to 56-39 with seven and a half minutes remaining.

Taylor later scored four consecutive points to give Bradley its biggest lead of the night at 68-45 with 3:12 to play as she moved into a tie with Ashley Chelleen for 16th on BU's career scoring list at 925 points.  The Braves held the Shockers to 21.2 percent shooting in the second half and outrebounded Wichita State 29-17 in the final 20 minutes to pull away for the 68-49 win.

Kassing hit 5-of-7 shots off the bench and scored a season-high 12 points to go along with eight rebounds in 14 minutes.  Budd finished with 11 points and also had a season-best four steals.  Taylor finished with nine points and nine rebounds, while Frings was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and had nine points in nine minutes off the bench.