PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley hung with Southern Illinois for 35 minutes, pulling even at 60-60 on a Shareece Burrell (Des Moines, Iowa/East) layup with just over five minutes left, before the Salukis held the Braves scoreless for a near four and a half minute stretch and SIU made 5-of-8 free throws in the final 31 seconds to walk out of Renaissance Coliseum with  a 72-66 victory Friday night in Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball action.

The Braves made their first five field goal attempts of the night and made 7-of-8 from the field in the first 4:30 of the game to jump out to a 17-9 lead.  Southern Illinois chipped away at the Bradley advantage and took a 40-39 lead into halftime.  Both squads shot better than 53 percent in the opening 20 minutes of play.

Southern Illinois took its biggest lead of the night at 52-44 nearing the 15-minute mark of the second half, when the Braves held SIU scoreless for a near eight-minute stretch.  Sophomore Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn./Chisago Lakes/Washington State) opened a 10-0 Bradley run with a layup and fellow sophomore Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) capped the spurt less than three minutes later with back-to-back hoops as the Braves grabbed a 54-52 lead with 12:21 to play.

Both teams were scoreless for the next five minutes before a Dyana Pierre jumper in the lane for SIU tied it up at 54-54 with 7:33 left.  Bradley answered with a layup by freshman Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) on the next trip down the floor to go back in front (56-54).

The lead was short-lived, however, with a pair of Azia Washington free throws tying the game at 56-56.  With SIU later leading 60-58, Brewer found Burrell underneath for a layup to tie the game for the eighth time at 60-60 closing in on the five-minute mark.

Burrell's hoop was Bradley's last basket for nearly four-and-a-half minutes as Southern Illinois rattled off seven straight points to go in front 67-60 with 1:36 to play.  Brewer, who had a season-high 15 points, had a layup with 45.1 seconds left and senior Michelle Young (Woodbury, Minn./Woodbury) came up with a steal and layup with 33.4 seconds on the clock to make it a one possession game at 67-64. 

Rishonda Napier, the top free throw shooter in the MVC, made a pair of free throws to push the SIU lead back to five (69-64) and Washington split a pair of free throws for SIU after a Bradley miss to give the Salukis a 70-64 advantage (70-64) with 22.2 seconds remaining.  A Sameia Kendall (Kansas City, Kan./Raytown/Johnson County) driving layup with 15.2 seconds left was the final score of the night for Bradley as Southern Illinois completed the regular-season sweep with the 72-66 victory.

Lerma led Bradley with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting and also snagged a team-best eight rebounds.  Brewer was 7-for-12 from the field and added a season-best 15 points.  Young scored seven points to pass Carol Baresch for 16th in career scoring at Bradley, while freshman Tamya Sims (Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek) added eight points, five rebounds, two blocks and three steals off the bench for the Braves. 

Cartaesha Macklin paced Southern Illinois in scoring with 25 points and six assists.  Napier dished out six assists of her own to go with her 21 points.  Bradley held Pierre six points below her season scoring average, but she collected a game-high 13 rebounds and four blocks in addition to her nine points and three steals for the Salukis.

Bradley plays its final home game of the 2014-15 season Sunday, hosting I-74 rival Illinois State in a 2 p.m. game at Renaissance Coliseum.  Michelle Young, the lone senior for the Braves, will be recognized in a prior to the contest.