ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- Freshman guard Michelle Lund (Sioux City, Iowa/Bishop Heelan) hit back-to-back three-pointers, highlighting a 12-0 second-half Bradley run to help the Braves pull away from Indiana State and advance to the semi-finals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament with a 70-49 victory against Sycamores Friday afternoon at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo.
After upsets in the first three games of the tournament, Bradley (21-9 overall) was the first higher seed to advance and will play in the semi-finals for the second time in program history. The fourth-seeded Braves will play #9 seed Evansville Saturday at 5 p.m. with the winner advancing to Sunday's championship game. Evansville was a 73-60 winner against top-seed Illinois State in Friday's first quarterfinal game.
Senior Monica Rogers (Forsyth, Ill./St. Teresa/Hampton) scored Bradley's first six points and helped the Braves to an 11-point first half lead. Indiana State (14-16 overall) trimmed the BU lead to 31-24 at the break after a Tiffany Reida three-pointer with 28 seconds left in the half.
After hitting 5-of-10 three-pointers in the first half, Indiana State went cold from the field to start the second half as Bradley held the Sycamores scoreless for nearly six minutes to open the period. Sophomore Raisa Taylor (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) scored the first seven points after halftime, helping Bradley push its lead to 38-24.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Leah Phillips and Brittany Schoen pulled Indiana State back to within seven points (47-40) midway through the second half. Junior Jenny Van Kirk (Waconia, Minn./Waconia) opened a 12-0 Bradley run with a three-pointer and Lund followed with back-to-back trey's to give BU a 56-40 lead. Junior guard Skye Johnson (Olympia Fields, Ill./Marian) capped the decisive run with a three-point play to extend the lead to 59-40 with six and a half minutes remaining.
The Sycamores cut the Braves' advantage to 16 points on Schoen's fifth three-pointer of the game, but a 9-1 Bradley spurt which included five points from freshman Leah Kassing (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) put the game out of reach as Bradley cruised to the 70-49 win.
Bradley earned its school-record 21st victory of the season and picked up its third win in Missouri Valley Conference Tournament history. The Braves advance to the semi-finals of The Valley Tournament for just the second time in program history and first since 1997.
Rogers, who scored the 1,000th point of her collegiate career, finished with 16 points and six rebounds to pace Bradley. Lund scored all of her 11 points in the second half and finished 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. Taylor also scored 11 points, while junior Renee Frericks (Wyoming, Minn./Forest Lake) added 10 points off the bench.
Sophomore forward Sonya Harris (Riverdale, Ill./Thornton) was limited to just 13 minutes due to foul trouble, but the Braves managed to outscore Indiana State 34-8 in the paint. Bradley outrebounded the Sycamores 46-28 and held Indiana State to 28.3 percent shooting in the game, including 6-for-31 shooting (19.4) inside the arc.
Bradley faces ninth-seed Evansville Saturday at 5 p.m. in the first of two semi-final matchups at The Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. Saturday's game will be televised on Fox Sports Midwest. Fans are invited to a team send off at 3 p.m. at the Sheraton Westport Lakeside Chalet. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.mvcstcharles.com.
