Box Score ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Bradley led by as many as 10 points in the first half, but a cold-shooting second half by the Braves helped Northern Iowa pull away as the Panthers posted a 70-50 victory over BU Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at The Family Arena.
Both teams got off to slow starts as neither team scored in the first 3:15 of the contest, but Bradley (16-13 overall) was the first team to strike and opened the game with a 12-2 run. Freshman Olivia Allen (Kildeer, Ill./Lake Zurich) highlighted the opening spurt with four points off the bench.
Bradley led 18-12 with eight minutes left in the first half, when UNI's Lizzie Boeck scored eight points during an 11-2 Panthers' run which put Northern Iowa (15-15 overall) in front 23-20. The Braves answered with a three-point play on a driving hoop by freshman Katie Yohn (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) to pull even at 23-23.
The Braves made just two baskets in the final eight minutes of the half and UNI scored the final eight points of the period to take a 31-24 lead into the break.
Bradley had a good start to the second half and pulled to within six points (36-30), when UNI was able to pull away during a near seven-minute BU scoring drought. The Panthers used a 12-0 run to build a 48-30 advantage midway through the second half before Yohn knocked down a three-pointer to spark a 12-2 BU spurt.
Junior Raisa Taylor (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) made a pair of free throws and Allen followed a UNI miss with a basket. Taylor hit a baseline jumper and sophomore Latasha Hollingshed (Bellwood, Ill./St. Joseph) capped the run with a three-point play with 6:13 remaining to pull the Braves to within eight points 50-42.
The eight-point deficit was as close as the Braves would get, however, as the Panthers ended a near five-minute stretch without a field goal at the 4:53 mark when senior Nicole Clausen knocked down a three-pointer from the wing to push the UNI advantage back to double digits at 53-42.
Clausen's three opened a 20-6 UNI run which pushed Bradley's deficit to 22 points (70-48). The Braves made just two baskets in the final six minutes of play, including junior Sonya Harris' basket with 15 seconds remaining, as Northern Iowa advanced to Saturday's 5:05 p.m. semifinal against top-seeded Illinois State with a 70-50 win.
Bradley made eight second-half field goals and shot 26.7 percent after halftime. Taylor led Bradley with 12 points, while Yohn was also in double figures with 10 points. Harris collected a game-high 11 rebounds and moved up two spots on BU's career rebounding list into seventh place. She moved ahead of Heather Best and Roxanne Grabow as she pushed her career rebound total to 674.
Boeck scored a game-high 19 points to lead Northern Iowa in scoring. Jacqui Kalin added eight points, nine rebounds and six assists.
