PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half before rallying to pull within two in the closing minutes, but visiting Wisconsin-Milwaukee held off the Braves for a 71-67 victory Monday at Renaissance Coliseum. 

Senior Leah Kassing (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) scored a career-high 23 points and freshman Shronda Butts (Des Moines, Iowa/East) added a season-best 13 points to lead the Braves, who fell to 4-3 on the year with the loss. 

Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-3 overall) capitalized at the foul line, making 28-of-39 attempts (71.8 percent) and shot 41.2 percent (7-for-17) from three-point range in the victory.  Angela Rodriguez led four UWM players in double figures with 21 points. 

UWM's Sami Tucker, who finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds, scored nine points in the opening 6:11 of the second half to help the Panthers push what was a seven-point halftime lead to a 51-37 advantage early in the second half. 

Bradley held Wisconsin-Milwaukee to one field goal over the next nine and a half minutes and Kassing sparked a 15-5 BU spurt with a put-back basket as the Braves pulled within four (56-52) with six and a half minutes remaining. 

Butts answered a UWM three-pointer with one of her own and Kassing followed a Panther miss with a basket in the lane to later pull BU within two points (63-61) with just under three minutes to play.

With UWM leading 65-63 and less than a minute on the clock, both teams missed shots in the lane and Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Courtney Lindfors made a pair of free throws with 38.3 seconds left to push the Panther lead to 67-63.  Bradley got no closer than three points in the closing seconds as UWM held on for the 71-67 win.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee jumped out to an early 8-2 lead in the game, before senior Hanna Muegge (Hopkins, Minn./Hopkins) had a three-point play and later capped a 14-4 BU run with a three-pointer to give Bradley a 16-12 lead with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half. 

Bradley led 22-19 after a Butts three with 8:56 left in the first half, but UWM's Emily Decorah scored eight points in the final 7:11 of the period to key a 15-5 Panther spurt as Wisconsin-Milwaukee took a 34-27 lead into the break. 

Kassing made 10-of-16 shots from the field and also snagged seven rebounds to go with her career-high 23 points, despite playing the final 10 minutes of the game with four fouls.  Butts scored 10 of her season-best 13 points in the second half in just 19 minutes off the bench, while junior Katie Yohn (Elgin, Ill./St. Edward) matched a career-high with six assists and joined the duo in double figures with 10 points.

Wisconsin-Milwaukee entered the game shooting 47.4 percent from the line, but tied a Renaissance Coliseum record with 28 made free throws, while shooting 71.8 percent from the line.  Rodriguez made 10-of-12 free throw attempts and was 3-of-6 from beyond the arc en route to a team-high 21 points.  Lindfors was 11-for-14 from the charity stripe and finished with 13 points. 

Bradley opens a three-game road swing Wednesday with a 6 p.m. (CST) contest at Butler, which will be broadcast in the Peoria area on 1290 AM WIRL.