NORMAL, Ill. – Freshman Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) scored a season-high 17 points and came up with a steal in the closing seconds to help Bradley complete a regular-season sweep of I-74 rival Illinois State with a 59-58 victory at Redbird Arena Thursday.

The Braves (7-19 overall, 4-11 MVC) needed a defensive stop in the closing minute of a win against the Redbirds back on Feb. 2 and a Lerma steal with three seconds left helped Bradley end a 10-game road losing streak in the series and complete the first regular-season sweep of Illinois State (8-17 overall, 7-8 MVC) since the 2002-03 campaign.

Bradley shot 42.4 percent from the field in the opening period and ended the first half with a 15-1 run to take a 33-24 lead at the break.  Illinois State was 0-for-8 from the field with five turnovers down the stretch in the first half and the Redbirds were 0-for-8 in the first 20 minutes from beyond the arc.

The teams switched roles in the second half, however, as Bradley shot 28 percent and Illinois State connected on 13-of-23 (56.5 percent) from the field, including 4-of-4 from long range after halftime.

Despite the second-half offensive struggles, the Braves led 46-40 with 10:24 left on a Frings layup before going cold from the field.  Bradley went nearly seven minutes between baskets, but Illinois State got no closer than one point during that span as the Braves made 6-of-8 free throws during the drought and held a 52-48 lead with 4:28 to play.

Lerma took over down the stretch, scoring six points and coming up with a steal to close out the victory.  A Lerma jumper just inside the free throw line with 3:36 left ended the Bradley drought.  Illinois State's Taylor Stewart split a pair of free throws with 3:21 left and Katy Winge followed a BU turnover with a baseline jumper to make it a one possession game at 54-51 with just under three minutes to play. 

After Illinois State pulled within one (54-53) on a Zenobia Bess layup, Lerma had a driving layup with 1:18 on the clock to push the Bradley lead back to three (56-53).  Stewart answered with a jumper with just under a minute left for the Redbirds.

Lerma scored her career-high 16th and 17th points of the night with a jumper with under 40 seconds to play, but ISU's Chloe Nelson knocked down a three-pointer with just over 20 seconds left on the clock to tie things up for the ninth time at 58-58.

Senior Kelsey Budd (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) split a pair of free throws with 17.7 seconds remaining and Lerma came up with a steal on an ISU drive to the hoop with three seconds on the clock as Bradley picked up its sixth win of the year in games decided by five points or less.

Lerma, who entered the game 1-for-11 from three-point range, made 3-of-4 from the beyond the arc and finished with a game-high 17 points.  She also had six boards, one assist, two blocks and a steal.  Senior Kelly Frings (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) scored nine of her 13 points in the first half and senior Alyson Spinas-Valainis (Davenport, Iowa/Assumption) collected 10 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots off the bench. 

Winge led Illinois State with 14 points and Stekara Hall added 13 points to lead the Redbirds. 

Bradley closes out the road schedule Sunday with a 1 p.m. (CST) game at Indiana State.  The game will be broadcast in the Peoria area on WMBD 1470 AM/100.3 FM.