CHICAGO, Ill. – Junior Whitney Tinjum (Stacy, Minn./Chisago Lakes/Washington State) scored all 17 of her points in the fourth quarter to help Bradley cut a 13-point deficit to six in the closing minutes, but Loyola held on for a 69-63 victory Saturday afternoon at Gentile Arena in the final game of the regular season for both squads.

Loyola got the ball inside early on and jumped out to 20-7 lead seven minutes into the game.  The Ramblers, who led 21-14 at the end of the first period, held the Braves to one field goal in the first six minutes of the second and owned a 31-17 advantage just under midway through the period. 

Bradley trailed 35-25 at the half after shooting 30 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes. 

Tinjum played a total of two minutes in the first three quarters of the contest, but came off the bench to start the fourth and knocked down the first three field goals of the final period for the Braves.  Bradley trailed 48-37 after the third quarter, but Tinjum's spurt to open the third helped the Braves pull within eight at 52-44 with just under seven minutes left.

Loyola pushed its lead back to double digits (60-47) with 3:53 left before Tinjum knocked down her second three-pointer of the quarter.  After the Ramblers split a pair of free throws, senior Kat Yelle (Geneva, Ill./Geneva/Ohio) knocked down a pair of her own and a Tinjum three-point play following another Loyola free throw pulled the Braves within seven points (62-55) with 1:14 to play. 

The Ramblers split another pair at the line on the next trip down the floor, when a pair of Tinjum free throws with 58.8 seconds left cut the Loyola advantage to 63-57.  Bradley came up empty on its possession, however, and Loyola made 6-of-8 from the charity stripe down the stretch as the Ramblers secured the #5 seed in next week's MVC Tournament with a 69-63 victory.  

Loyola scored 15 of its 21 fourth-quarter points at the free throw line, going 15-for-22 from the line in the final 10 minutes.

Tinjum paced Bradley with 17 points to lead three Bradley players in double figures.  Junior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) and Yelle each added 10 points of their own, while Yelle tied for the team-high in rebounds with seven. 

Taylor Johnson led Loyola in scoring with 22 points and Taylor Manuel turned in a double-double, tallying 13 points and 15 boards.  Dakota Vann was also in double figures with 15 points as the trio combined to make 18-of-31 shots and help the Ramblers to a 38-10 edge in points in the paint. 

Bradley will play #8 seed Wichita State in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Thursday at 4 p.m. in Moline, Ill.