DES MOINES, Iowa ? Bradley held a 63-57 lead on preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Drake with just over five minutes to play, but the Bulldogs used a 12-2 run over the next four minutes to take a four-point lead and made 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute to top the Braves 75-70 Thursday at the Drake Knapp Center in MVC women's basketball action.

Bradley (7-10 overall, 1-5 MVC) scored the first six points of the game and connected on three of its first four three-point attempts to race out to an early 17-8 advantage.  The Braves cooled off, however, and Drake was able to take a 35-32 lead into the break behind 11 first-half points from Lauren Dybing. 

The Drake (12-5 overall, 5-1 MVC) duo of Jill Martin and Lindsay Whorton entered the game averaging more than 32 points per game, but Bradley limited the duo to two first-half points on 1-for-4 shooting from the field and four turnovers.

The Braves tied the game in the early moments of the second half on a Kelly Krumwiede (Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West) layup with 17:43 to play, but a Drake spurt capped by a Whorton three-pointer with 12:43 remaining gave the Bulldogs their biggest advantage of the night at 50-43. 

Sophomore guard Skye Johnson (Olympia Fields, Ill./Marian Catholic) had a layup and dished out a pair of assists to highlight a 10-point Braves run that put Bradley back in front 53-50 in the see-saw battle. 

With the score knotted at 57-57 with 5:39 left to play, Johnson found senior Devyn Flanagan (Riverton, Ill.,/Riverton) for an open three-pointer, had a steal and made a layup to highlight a six-point push that gave BU a 63-57 lead with 5:09 remaining. 

Martin, who scored 11 points in the second half, had a pair of free throws and Whorton followed with a three-pointer from the wing to quickly cut Bradley's lead to 63-62 with 4:09 left to play. 

Johnson pushed the lead back to three points (65-62) with a layup with 3:11 on the clock, but Drake answered with seven consecutive points to retake the lead at 69-65 with 1:10 to play.  The Bulldog lead was cut to two points when Johnson found freshman Sonya Harris (Riverdale, Ill./Thornton) for an open layup with just under one minute to play.

A Johnson three-pointer with just under 20 ticks remaining on the click kept the margin at two points (72-70), but Jordann Plummer made three of four free throws during the closing moments and the Braves missed both of their shots from the field as Drake held on for the 75-70 win.

Johnson finished with a career high 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting, while adding six rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and two steals.  Flanagan hit 6-of-8 shots in 24 minutes of action and finished with 14 points, while Krumwiede added 14 points to go along with her game-high tying nine rebounds.  Bradley committed just 13 turnovers and shot 54.8 percent from the field in the second half, but were outrebounded by the Bulldogs 38-32. 

Dybing hit 7-of-9 shots and was also 7-for-9 from the free throw line to pace all players with 21 points.  She also tied for game-high honors with nine rebounds.  Martin finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.  Plummer was also in double figures with 12 points.

Bradley returns to action Saturday at 4:05 p.m. when the Braves face Creighton at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.