PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball got off to a slow start offensively in the first half, before exploding for 42 points in the third quarter en route to a convincing 92-47 victory over Evansville Friday at Renaissance Coliseum to open Play4Kay Weekend for the Braves.
Junior Vanessa Markert scored a game-high 21 points on 9-for-11 shooting and also added four blocks in just 20 minutes of action to lead Bradley (12-13 overall, 6-8 MVC), scoring 14 points in the first half. Senior Anneke Schlueter came off the bench to score 19 points as she passed BU head coach Andrea Gorski for 18th on the Bradley all-time scoring list. The victory gave the Braves their 12th of the season to match last season's win total in addition Bradley stayed in a tie for sixth with Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference standings.
Evansville made 7-of-13 three-pointers in the first half and led 31-30 at the break as the Braves committed nine first-half turnovers and opened the game 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. The Purple Aces made their first two shots of the third quarter and led 35-33 in the opening minutes of the second half before the Bradley offense broke out of its slump.
Freshman Nyjah White got things started with a put-back basket to tie the game and a three-point play by Markert nearing the seven-minute mark gave the Braves the lead at 38-35.
Bradley followed up a 14-point second quarter with nine points in the first 3:30 of the third quarter, but the Braves were just getting started. The BU lead stood at 40-38 with six minutes to play in the third when freshman Gabi Haack and Schlueter helped key a 25-3 Bradley run.
The Braves scored on 10 consecutive possessions during the salvo, with Haack scoring all nine of her points and dishing out a pair of assists and Schlueter scoring seven of her 19 points during the spurt. Haack got things started with a three-pointer and then assisted a Schlueter trey, before assisting a Shunseere Kent pull-up jumper in the paint.
Another Haack three capped a stretch in which Bradley scored 11 points in a 90-second span to push the lead to 51-38. Evansville would briefly put the Braves run on hold with a Kerri Gasper three-pointer with 4:02 to play in the third, only to have Bradley answer with 13 consecutive points. A Markert hoop and Haack three-point play pushed the Bradley advantage to 15 (56-41) with 3:27 left in the frame.
Freshman Jailynn Lawson, who had three assists during the decisive BU run, scored the next four Bradley points on free throws and Schlueter added a pair of her own free throws with 2:42 left in the third. Schlueter capped the run and passed her head coach on Bradley's all-time scoring list on a three-pointer with 2:19 in the third as the Braves built a 65-41 edge and would go on take a 72-45 lead into the fourth thanks to a 42-point third quarter. Bradley shot 70 percent (14-for-20) from the field in the third, including 5-of-6 (83.3 percent) from three-point range.
The Braves scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter, holding Evansville scoreless until 1:06 to play and the Aces went the final 14 minutes of the contest without a field goal as Bradley cruised to the 92-47 victory. Bradley had just two second-half turnovers and connected on 7-of-12 second-half three-point attempts.
Bradley closes out a two-game home stand and Play4Kay Weekend Sunday with a 2 p.m. game against Indiana State at Renaissance Coliseum. The Braves are tied with the Sycamores with six MVC wins and enter Sunday's matchup a half-game behind Indiana State for fifth in the league standings.