PEORIA, Ill. -- Evansville entered Thursday's game with the longest active win streak in the Missouri Valley Conference and the Purple Aces picked up their seventh consecutive victory after limiting Bradley to 32.1 percent shooting in the second half to top the Braves 73-55 at Renaissance Coliseum.

Both squads got off to strong starts offensively with Evansville (14-14 overall, 9-8 MVC) holding an 11-9 lead at the first media timeout and Bradley (7-21 overall, 4-13 MVC) trailed 23-17 midway through the first half after a Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) jumper. 

The teams cooled off a bit down the stretch in the first half and the Purple Aces held a 34-27 lead at the break.  Evansville scored the first six points of the second half to quickly push the advantage to double digits at 40-27 in the opening minutes of the second period. 

A Kelly Frings (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) three-point play with 18:27 left ended the Evansville spurt, but was the only field goal Bradley scored during a seven-minute stretch following halftime as the Purple Aces extended the lead to 51-32 on a Sara Dickey free throw with just under 14 minutes to play.  Evansville went on to take the game 73-55 and snapped a four-game Bradley win streak in the series. 

Junior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) was the only Bradley player to score in double figures, finishing with a team-high 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting.  Senior Kelsey Budd (Prairie du Sac, Wis./Sauk Prairie) had eight points and three assists, while senior Catie O'Leary (Janesville, Wis./Parker/Wisconsin) snagged a game-high 12 rebounds and four assists as she became the first player in school history to collect 200 points, 200 rebounds and 50 assists in back-to-back seasons. 

The Braves shot 36.8 percent from the field, compared to 50.9 percent by Evansville and the Purple Aces owned a 37-29 rebounding advantage.  Four UE players scored in double figures, paced by Dickey's game-high 19 points.  Mallory Ladd had 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Sasha Robinson added 14 points and eight rebounds.  Kat Taylor was also in double figures with 10 points to go with six assists and three steals.

Bradley closes out the regular season Saturday with a 2 p.m. game against Southern Illinois at Renaissance Coliseum.  Bradley's four seniors – Kelsey Budd, Kelly Frings, Catie O'Leary and Alyson Spinas-Valainis (Davenport, Iowa/Assumption) will be recognized in a pre-game ceremony.