Box Score PEORIA, Ill. -- Sophomore Katie Yohn (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) scored a team-high 20 points and pulled down a career-high eight rebounds to help Bradley to a 65-58 win against Evansville at Renaissance Coliseum Sunday afternoon. The win gave the Braves back-to-back Missouri Valley Conference victories for the first time this season and moved BU ahead of the Purple Aces in the league standings.
After Evansville scored the first points of the game, Bradley (10-9 overall, 3-5 MVC) answered with a 12-2 spurt with Yohn and junior Latasha Hollingshed (Bellwood, Ill./St. Joseph/Illinois Central) each scoring four points during the run which gave the Braves an early 12-4 lead. Evansville (7-11 overall, 2-5 MVC) pulled even late in the first half and the teams were tied 29-29 at the break.
Yohn scored the first seven points of the second half for BU to highlight a 13-2 Bradley run to open the period as the Braves built a 42-31 lead. The Purple Aces scored just two points in the first 7:26 of the second half, but pulled within four points (47-43) midway through the half.
Bradley answered with an 11-3 run to push the advantage back to double digits at 56-46 with six minutes to play and matched its biggest lead of the day at 59-48 after a Yohn three-pointer with 4:05 on the clock. The Purple Aces cut the Braves' lead to 59-53 with just under two minutes to play when a driving layup by senior Raisa Taylor (Decatur, Ill./Eisenhower) pushed the advantage to 61-53.
Evansville came up empty on its next three possessions and a pair of Yohn free throws with 22.6 seconds pushed the lead back to double digits (63-53) as the Braves held on for the 65-58 victory.
Yohn finished with a team-best 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and also had eight boards, four assists, two blocks and one steal in 34 minutes. Taylor moved into 15th on Bradley's career scoring list with a 10-point effort against the Purple Aces, pushing her career total to 986 points as she passed Andrea McAllister (980 points). Junior guard Hanna Muegge (Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins) hit 2-of-4 three-point attempts and finished with 10 points off the bench.
Briyana Blair paced Evansville with a game-high 21 points and tallied nine steals as she helped the Purple Aces to 22 steals off of 26 Bradley turnovers. Stephanie Bamberger and Meagan Collins each scored 11 points to help lead UE.
Bradley opens a three-game Missouri Valley Conference road swing Saturday with a 3:05 p.m. game at Northern Iowa. Saturday's game against the Panthers will be broadcast in the Peoria area on 1290 AM WIRL.
