There's such a cluster in the middle (of the standings) with teams jockeying for position for that conference tournament. We're going to do the best we can to get our kids ready to compete every night.

They have some tremendous, athletic players. They have such a strong inside game, but they also have some kids that can step out and shoot the three.

We felt like we really needed to start off the game being the aggressors. The last time we played they had us on our heels. This time we wanted to make sure we were attacking the basket with either a post feed or putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim.

You can't give up 15 offensive rebounds and I feel like Missouri State played hard, on a mission. And for us to have 16 turnovers against a team that doesn't press, that's not good. But the bottom line is we have to knock down shots. We had open looks and didn't hit them. It's surprising that we've struggled with that because of the shooters we have.

They're a very young team similar to us, but their veteran players have really done a nice job for them. Linda and Jill have been the rock and foundation of that team. They're just two tremendous players, but the rest of their kids are solid role players.

You look at a team like Creighton which has struggled with injuries and things like that, but they still have a roster of veteran ballplayers. For us to be as young as we are and finally be able to show some poise during their runs and execute down the stretch, it says a lot about how far our team has come in the last month.

I know it was very lopsided at the free throw line. That was just a situation where I felt Drake was very aggressive offensively. I thought they did a good job in their half-court defense, really took care of our dribble penetration and packed it in.

I thought Brooke was the difference. She had a little stretch in about 30 seconds that was huge for our team.

Drake is still in a position jockeying themselves for that conference tournament. I anticipate they're going to come in here knowing they have Indiana State and us and try to go at least 1-1 if not 2-0.