PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley and pre-season Missouri Valley Conference favorite Missouri State both turned in one of their top defensive efforts of the season, but the Lady Bears had a 48-34 rebounding advantage and outscored the Braves 32-24 in the paint to hang on for a 55-44 road victory Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.

The 99 combined points were the fewest in Renaissance Coliseum history, breaking the mark of 103 combined points in a 54-49 Bradley victory over Loyola on Feb. 15, 2014.  The Braves (4-11 overall, 0-4 MVC) held Missouri State to 36.7 percent shooting and forced 22 Lady Bear turnovers.  MSU (10-7 overall, 3-2 MVC) was up to the task, however, limiting Bradley to 32.7 percent shooting and a season-low 44 points in the setback for the Braves.

In the opening quarter, Missouri State raced out to a 14-5 lead before Bradley was able to end the period on an 8-1 spurt to trail 15-13 after 10 minutes of play.  Sophomore Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) opened the run with a layup and capped the spurt with a jumper in the closing seconds of the period. 

Bradley pulled even with Missouri State at 19-19 on an Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) pull-up jumper with 5:53 left in the second.  The Schlueter hoop was the final points of the half for Bradley, as the Bears scored the final nine points of opening half of play to take a 28-19 lead at the break. 

Missouri State held Bradley to two field goals in the first 8:30 of the third quarter and was able to stretch the advantage to 14 points (39-25) with 3:21 to play in the frame.  Back-to-back steals and breakaway layups by Brewer and Schlueter helped the Braves cut the deficit to single digits (40-31) heading to the final stanza. 

The Lady Bears hit a three-pointer to open the fourth and used a 9-2 run to start the quarter en route to their largest lead of the night at 49-33 nearing the midway point of the period.  Brewer had a put-back basket to spark a 9-1 Bradley run.  Schlueter found Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn./Chisago Lakes/Washington State) for a three-pointer from the wing and followed a Missouri State with a miss with a fastbreak layup.  A steal and layup by senior Kat Yelle (Geneva, Ill./Geneva/Ohio) pulled the Braves within eight (50-42) nearing the three-minute mark. 

Bradley came up empty on its next four possessions, however, and Missouri State held the Braves to two points over the final three minutes to close out the 55-44 road victory. 

Sophomore Tamya Sims (Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek) collected nine points, five rebounds, one assist, two blocks and two steals to help lead the Braves.  Brewer finished with seven points, six boards, two assists and three steals.  Freshman Vanessa Markert (Mt. Sterling/Brown County) helped lead the Bradley reserves with four points, five boards and two blocks off the bench. 

Schlueter was 0-for-6 from three-point range ending her streak of consecutive games with a three-pointer at 14 for the seventh longest streak in program history.  The Braves were 2-for-16 from three-point range in the loss. 

Tyonna Snow was one of three Missouri State players to score in double figures, tallying a game-high 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting.  Kenzie Williams added 12 points and Hillary Chvatal pulled down seven offensive rebounds (nine total rebounds) to go with her 11 points. 

Bradley closes out a two-game home stand Sunday with a 2 p.m. matchup against defending MVC regular-season and tournament champion Wichita State.