HOUGHTON, Mich. - No. 3-seed Drury picked an inopportune time for its worst shooting day of the season, as the Lady Panthers couldn't buy a bucket and fell 75-61 to No. 6 seed Wayne State in the opening round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Friday afternoon on the campus of Michigan Tech University.

Nationally seventh-ranked Drury, which finished its first season under head coach Molly Miller with a 26-4 record and had a 14-game winning streak snapped on Friday, fell down by as many as 24 points (57-33) midway through the second half before mounting a ferocious rally that cut No. 19 Wayne State's lead to eight (59-51) with just over five minutes to play.

But the Warriors (23-5) scored nine of the next 11 points, pushed the lead back to 15 points with three minutes to go, and made their free throws down the stretch to pull off the upset against a Lady Panthers team that had defeated them 99-63 in the Midwest Regional title game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center last March.

In that one, WSU star Shareta Brown got in early foul trouble, Drury was making everything and the Lady Panthers raced off to a 58-26 halftime lead.

In this one, Brown was in foul trouble early again (two fouls in first eight minutes), but Drury couldn't make anything to take advantage of it, or 15 first-half turnovers by the Warriors, on their way to 25 turnovers for the game.

The Lady Panthers, who came into the game as one of the top shooting teams in the nation at 45 percent, shot a season-low 27 percent (18 of 68), making just 8 of their first 48 attempts. (The actual .265 field-goal percentage was Drury's lowest in its last 123 games, or since the Lady Panthers shot 25 percent (15 of 60) and won 57-50 at Missouri-St. Louis in overtime on February 10, 2011).

By the time they heated up slightly - shots started falling in a 15-0 run that cut the WSU lead from 24 to nine in about three minutes - it was too little, too late, as the Warriors eventually fended off that late rally.

"It was just a little too late ... our kick, our push this time," said Miller, whose Lady Panthers rallied from 18 points down in the final 13 minutes to beat Southern Indiana for the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship last Sunday in St. Charles, Mo.

"It's tough, especially when you're known for your shooting. This was so uncharacteristic of this team. This is hard, knowing if we thew ball up right now it might be different. But give a lot of credit to wayne State ... they shot the ball well. If they had a possible weakness, it was outside shooting, and they hit three threes right off the bat. Credit to them, they came out ready to play."

Drury trailed 33-24 at the half after falling behind 13-2 at the game's beginning. The Warriors opened the second half with an 11-4 run to open up a 16-point advantage (44-28) with 15 minutes remaining, one that would grow to 24 within the next four minutes.

Wayne State committed 27 turnovers for the game, but shot 54 percent (25 of 46) from the field and grabbed most of those Drury misses, claiming a 54-28 rebounding advantage, in avenging the regional loss last season to the Lady Panthers and also atoning for a first-round exit last week at home in their own GLIAC post-season tournament.

Brown, a 6-1 senior and the Midwest Region Player of the Year, fouled out wth just over a minute remaining, finishing with 17 points and 20 rebounds.

"She's not known for 3-point shooting, but went 2-for-2 on us," Miller said. "I thought we did a good job on her. The 20 rebounds seems a lot, but again, that's off a lot of our misses."

Des Lavita-Stephens added 15 points, Ondrea Hughes had 13 points and Brittany Streetman had 12 points for the Warriors, who were 7 of 14 from 3-point range as a team.

On a day when no one else was even remotely hot, Annie Armstrong made 7 of 9 shots and finished with 18 points to lead the Lady Panthers, who were 8 of 28 from 3-point range. Sanayika Shields had 14 points and Addy Roller added 11 points for Drury.

It was the final game in a DU uniform for four-year seniors Shields and Shelby White, the team's leaders in rebounds and steals, respectively, this season.

Shields, who was 9 of 10 from the line Friday, finished with a team-high five rebounds and completed her career with 886 points (14th on the all-time DU list) and 595 rebounds (fifth).

"That's what's so heart-wrenching for me right now ... what they've given to these juniors and sophomores and freshmen to carry on the program's tradition is so invaluable," Miller said. "What I'm so proud of is the way they've grown up into fine, young women and that they are going to leave the school and program and represent Drury with the utmost class. This isn't the way they wanted to go out, but they've accomplished a lot this season.

"I"m so proud of the way they carried themselves on and off the floor and what great examples they were for our underclassmen."