PEORIA, Ill. -- Sophomore Anneke Schlueter (Ulm, Germany/Max-Weber-Schule) scored a career and game-high 22 points and Bradley turned in its best defensive effort of the year as the Braves topped I-74 rival 52-38 Sunday afternoon at Renaissance Coliseum in the final home game of the season.

Bradley (8-18 overall, 4-14 MVC) moved within a half game of Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with the victory, holding the Redbirds to a Renaissance Coliseum record-low 38 points and just eight field goals.  The 38 points were the fewest by a Bradley opponent since a 71-36 win against the Redbirds on Jan. 6, 2002 at Robertson Memorial Field House. 

Illinois State shot just 15.4 percent, marking the lowest for a Bradley opponent to break the previous mark of 20.6 percent by Texas Southern on Dec. 5, 1992. 

Bradley led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter, with Illinois State opening the game 3-for-9 from the field before missing its final two shots of the period. 

A Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) three-pointer in the closing seconds of the first quarter opened a 9-0 Bradley run which carried over to the second quarter.  Schlueter hit a jumper from the wing with seven minutes to play in the third and junior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) split a pair of free throws with 6:24 left in the second.  A Schlueter three with just under six minutes to play in the stanza pushed the Bradley lead to 22-14. 

The Redbirds were 1-for-12 from the field in the second period with a Lexie Taylor three-pointer at the 2:47 mark of the second the only field goal for Illinois State as the Braves were able to extend the lead to 11 at the half (30-19). 

Illinois State's offensive struggles carried over the second half, with Bradley holding the Redbirds without a field goal for the entire third quarter.  Bradley led 36-23 nearing the midway point of the period after a Vanessa Markert (Mt. Sterling, Ill./Brown County) three-pointer and the Braves had their largest lead of the afternoon at 40-25 in the final minute of the third quarter when senior Kat Yelle (Geneva, Ill./Geneva/Ohio) found Markert in the lane for a layup. 

ISU got a field goal in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter to end an 0-for-14 stretch and cap a 21-minute span in which Bradley held the Redbirds to 1-for-25 from the field. 

Bradley, which shot just 31 percent in the victory, had its own offensive struggles in the fourth quarter as Illinois State pulled within seven points (45-38) on a Shakeela Fowler layup with 2:18.  The Braves held Illinois State scoreless the remainder of the contest, however, and made 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to close out the 52-38 victory. 

Schlueter scored 14 of her career-high 22 points in the first half and was joined in double figures by Brewer, who had 10 points off the bench.  Lerma grabbed 14 rebounds, while sophomore Tamya Sims (Milwaukee, Wis./Oak Creek) collected four blocks to push her career block total to 100. 

Fowler paced Illinois State in scoring with nine points as Illinois State scored 20 of its 38 points at the free throw line (20-for-29). 

Bradley opens a three-game road swing Friday with a 7 p.m. at league leader Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa.