Southern Illinois SIU 9-10, 3-5 MVC

Bradley BRAD 6-13, 2-6 MVC

Southern Illinois SIU

9-10, 3-5 MVC

Final

Jan. 27, 2017

Bradley BRAD

6-13, 2-6 MVC

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Southern Illinois SIU	11	14	19	22	66
Bradley BRAD	16	14	13	14	57

Box Score

Duane Zehr, Bradley University ITPS

Lerma Paces Braves In Setback To SIU

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 1/27/2017 9:43:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) collected her seventh double-double of the year with 13 points and 11 rebounds, but Rishonda Napier tallied 14 points and six assists in the second half to help Southern Illinois top Bradley 66-57 Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.

After playing five of the first seven Missouri Valley Conference games on the road and nine of the last 11 away from home, Bradley looked to open a four-game MVC home stand on a strong note. The Braves (6-13 overall, 2-6 MVC) entered the contest tied with SIU in the Valley standings and jumped out to an early 6-2 lead behind a pair of Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) hoops and a Lerma basket.

Bradley never trailed in the first half, leading 16-11 at the end of the first quarter and stretching the advantage to as many as seven points early in the second. Southern Illinois (9-10 overall, 3-5 MVC) trimmed the Bradley lead to one late in the second period, but layups by Lerma, Schlueter and junior Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) gave the Braves a 30-25 edge at the half.

Napier knocked down one of her four second half three's to open the third quarter and scored the first seven points after the break. She had her own personal 10-2 run in the first three minutes of the third to push SIU ahead 35-32. The teams traded baskets for the remainder of the third frame as Bradley trailed 44-43 after 30 minutes of play.

Brewer opened the scoring in the fourth with a driving layup and Lerma added a pair of free throws with 8:38 to play to give Bradley the lead once again at 47-44. The Braves went without a field goal for the next three minutes, however, and SIU scored the next six points to go back in front 50-47. East Peoria native Kylie Giebelhausen later extended the SIU lead to 53-48 with a three-pointer and she added another three-pointer with 3:40 on the clock to push the Saluki lead to eight (59-51).

Sophomore Vanessa Markert (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) found freshman Chelsea Brackmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) underneath for a layup to snap a 12-4 SIU spurt and Markert followed a defensive stop with a layup of her own. Lerma made it a two-point game at 59-57 with a pull-up jumper just inside the free throw line with just under two minutes to play.

Bradley's run ended there, however with Napier coming up with two steals in the final 90 seconds and SIU scoring the final seven points of the contest to pull out the 66-57 win. Four of Bradley's six losses in MVC have been one possession games with less than two minutes remaining in regulation following Friday night's setback.

"Their shooters just took over in the second half," said first-year head coach Andrea Gorski. "We went under on ball screens on Napier and she made us pay. They made plays and we didn't do a good job of following the game plan in the second half."

Lerma was 5-for-8 from the field and finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead Bradley as she became the sixth player in school history with 700 career rebounds. Markert was the only other Brave in double figures with 14 points off the bench. Freshman Alona Johnson tallied four points and six rebounds to go with season highs of five assists and seven steals. Johnson's seven steals were the most by a Bradley player since Michelle Young had seven takeaways against Missouri State on Jan. 18, 2015.

Napier's big second half helped her finish with game highs of 19 points and seven assists to pace Southern Illinois. Giebelhausen added 12 points for the Salukis.

Bradley continues a four-game Valley home stand Sunday with a special 11 a.m. contest against Evansville at Renaissance Coliseum and will feature a special halftime performance by the K9 Crew Frisbee dogs.

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