HOUGHTON, Mich. -- The Wayne State University women's basketball team (23-5 overall), ranked 19^th this week in the USA Today/WBCA National Coaches Poll, upended No. 7 Drury University (26-4 overall), 75-61, in the opening round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon at the SDC on the campus of Michigan Tech.
 
The 23 wins by the Warriors ties the school record set in 1980-81 and equaled last year.  WSU will play either Lewis (No. 2 seed) or Wisconsin-Parkside (No. 7 seed) at 5 p.m. on Saturday for the right to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.  The Wayne State victory also ended Drury's 14-game winning streak and was a slight measure of revenge after the Panthers ended WSU's season last year in a Sweet Sixteen contest at DU in Springfield, Mo.
 
The Warriors scored the first seven points of the game on a lay-up by senior Ondrea Hughes (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Loy Norrix) off the opening tip from classmate Shareta Brown (Pontiac, Mich. / Grand Blanc), a lay-up by junior Brittany Streetman (Warren, Mich. / Lincoln) following a steal by Brown and concluded on a triple by Brown from the top of the circle.
 
After a jumper by Panther Annie Armstrong, who tallied a game-high 18 points, WSU added back-to-back triples by junior Destiny Lavita-Stephens (Grand Blanc, Mich. / Goodrich) and Streetman forcing DU into a 30-second timeout just 2:25 into the game as the Warriors led 13-2.
 
Drury started chipping away at its deficit and pulled within four (14-10) following a conventional three-point play by Shelby White.  DU's Alice Heinzler came off the bench and scored five consecutive Panther points to make it a three-point game (18-15) but Streetman answered with her second triple in the first nine minutes.
 
Armstrong connected from beyond the arc just past the mid-point of the first half reducing WSU's advantage to three (21-18), but the Warriors responded with an 8-0 run as five different players scored points.
 
Scoring was at a premium the final six minutes before intermission with WSU being out-scored 6-4 in that span.  Wayne State led 33-24 at halftime after limiting the Panthers to 20 percent (7-of-35) from the field, including 3-of-10 from beyond the arc.  Meanwhile, the Warriors shot 50 percent (10-of-20) and were 4-of-8 from long range.
 
Brown, who nearly had a double-double at intermission with eight points and nine rebounds, began the second half scoring with another triple.
 
Wayne State continued the scoring onslaught and led by 25 (53-28) with 10:33 remaining in the game after beginning the second half on a 20-4 run.  Hughes totaled six points during the run, while Brown had five points, Streetman contributed two buckets for four points, Lavita-Stephens added a triple and junior Kristen Long (Corunna, Mich. /Durand) added a jumper.
 
Following a long two-point jumper by freshman Sara Ruhstorfer (Grand Blanc, Mich. / Flint Powers Catholic) that gave WSU a 24-point advantage (57-33), Drury went on a 15-0 run to pull within nine at 57-48 with 6:06 left.
 
Senior Amber McCann (Southfield, Mich. / Southfield-Lathrup) scored from inside to end the scoreless drought of over four minutes by the Warriors.
 
The Panthers scored the next three points to get within eight (59-51) with 5:16 remaining, but WSU was able to out-score last year's Elite Eight participant 16-10 in the final five minutes to secure the win.
 
WSU shot 58 percent (15-of-26) from the field over the final 20 minutes compared to 33 percent (11-of-33) for Drury.
 
Brown finished with a team-high 17 points, a game-best 20 rebounds (considering Drury had just 28 rebounds in the game and missed 50 field goal attempts), along with a team-high four assists.
 
Lavita-Stephens registered 15 points with Hughes contributing 13 points and seven rebounds.  Streetman added 12 points and three steals.
 
DU's Sanayika Shields was 2-of-14 from the field but 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in scoring 14 points with Addy Roller adding 11 points and five assists for the Panthers.