CARBONDALE, Ill. – Bradley battled from behind most of the contest and trimmed a 16-point Southern Illinois lead to three in the closing minute before the Salukis pulled out a 69-63 victory over the Braves Sunday afternoon at SIU Arena.
 
Senior Leti Lerma (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the second half to help fuel Bradley's rally attempt and grabbed six boards as she became the all-time leading rebounder in school history with her 800^th career rebound early in the contest.
 
Southern Illinois (14-13 overall, 8-8 MVC) grabbed the lead with an 11-2 run midway through the first quarter and led 23-16 at the end of the first period.  The Salukis stretched the advantage to as many as 16 points in the second quarter and held a 41-30 lead at the break after shooting 53 percent in the first half. 
 
Lerma scored eight points in the first three minutes of the third, connecting on 4-of-4 field goals to help Bradley (10-18 overall, 6-11 MVC) cut the deficit to six (45-39).  The Braves went cold from the field, however, going a near eight minutes without a field goal.
 
SIU's lead stood at 61-47 nearing the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter before Bradley made a late push.  Freshman Alona Johnson (Milwaukee, Wis./Riverside) split a pair of free throws and found fellow freshman Chelsea Brackmann (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) cutting to the hoop for a layup to open an 8-0 run by the Braves.
 
Lerma followed a SIU turnover with a three-point play on a put-back basket.  Johnson capped the run with a layup of her own as Bradley pulled within six at 61-55 with 2:39 to play. 
 
The SIU lead was back to eight when Lerma had a steal and made a pair of free throws to once again pull the Braves within six (63-57) with 1:14 on the clock.  Lerma, who entered the game with two three-pointers on the season, followed another SIU turnover with her second three-pointer of the game with 43.7 seconds to make it a one-possession game (63-60). 
 
SIU senior Rishonda Napier made a pair of free throws with 38 seconds left and a Bradley missed three resulted in two more Saluki free throws with 27.8 seconds remaining to push the Salukis lead back to seven (67-60).  A Danielle Brewer (Coatesville, Ind.) three-pointer with 17.9 seconds was Bradley's only hoop in the closing 40 seconds and SIU was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe down the stretch to close out the 69-63 win.
 
"I thought we were a little flat in the first half, but stepped up the intensity in the second half" said Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski.  "I feel like we are such a better team these last few weeks and I'm proud of our effort.  I like where this is team is at.  We've been in a lot of these games late, it's really come down to some missed free throws and layups."    
 
Bradley held SIU to 37 percent shooting in the second half and committed just 11 turnovers, but the Braves were 11-for-23 from the free throw line.  The setback drops Bradley into eighth in the MVC standings at 6-11, a half-game behind a tie between Indiana State and Evansville for sixth. 
 
Lerma paced four Bradley players in double figures with 22 points on 8-for-16 shooting.  Brackmann had her second double-double of the year with 10 points and 12 boards off the bench as she broke Bradley's freshman rebounding mark.  Markert finished 11 points, while Brewer had 10 points and collected a career-best five assists to help lead the Braves.
 
Carlie Corrigan led Southern Illinois in scoring with 15 points, making 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and Kim Nebo added a double-double (14 points & 10 rebounds) for the Salukis.  Kylie Giebelhausen had 12 points in 39 minutes, while Napier dished out seven assists to go with 10 points in the final game of her career.
 
Bradley closes out the 2016-17 season Saturday with a 2 p.m. game against I-74 rival Illinois State at Renaissance Coliseum.