Liberty Lib 6-6

Bradley BRAD 8-2

Liberty Lib

6-6

Final

Dec. 20, 2019

Bradley BRAD

8-2

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
Liberty Lib	26	10	19	20	75
Bradley BRAD	11	16	21	15	63

Box Score

Duane Zehr

Liberty Snaps Women’s Basketball Win Streak

Box Score

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 12/20/2019 3:47:00 PM

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Bradley erased a 17-point first-half deficit to take a lead halfway through the third quarter, but Liberty used a 9-1 run midway through the fourth to pull away as the Flames snapped a seven-game win streak for the Braves with a 75-63 victory Friday afternoon to open action at the Roo Holiday Classic.

Sophomore Lasha Petree scored a game-high 22 points for her third 20-point game of the season and ninth of her career to pace Bradley (8-2 overall). Junior Gabi Haack joined Petree in double figures with 10 points as she scored in double figures for the ninth time in 10 outings. Senior Chelsea Brackmann returned to the starting lineup to pull down a game-high 12 rebounds to go with eight points and a pair of blocks in the setback for the Braves.

"We were just out of sorts that first half," said Bradley head coach Andrea Gorski. "They (Liberty) are a good defensive team and were able to get us out of rhythm. We had bits and pieces of good play, we just couldn't string it together long enough."

Liberty (6-6 overall), which won its fourth consecutive contest, took advantage of seven first-quarter turnovers by the Braves, using a 13-0 run over a five-and-a-half-minute stretch to build a 19-4 lead. The Flames had their largest lead of the first half at 23-6 closing in on the final minute to play in the first. A pull-up three-pointer from Lasha Petree and acrobatic hoop in the lane from Mahri Petree in the final minute helped the Braves cut the deficit to 26-11 at the end of the first.

Sophomore Tatum Koenig opened the second quarter with a three-pointer and Lasha Petree followed with one of her own to pull Bradley within nine points (26-17) in the opening minutes of the second. Liberty shot 50 percent from the field in the first, but the Braves held the Flames to 1-of-9 to open the second quarter and pulled to within eight points at 28-20 on a Lasha Petree free throw with 4:29 left in the half. Liberty kept Bradley from cutting any further into the lead to close the second quarter, however, and led 36-27 at the break.

Bradley shot 44 percent from the field in the first half, including 46 percent in the second quarter, but Liberty forced 16 BU turnovers in the opening 20 minutes and had a 12-5 edge in points off the turnovers at the half.

Bradley opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run over the first four minutes of the frame to pull within two points and would eventually take its first lead since the opening minute of the game on a Lasha Petree three-pointer at 43-42 nearing the four-minute mark of the third. Liberty answered with a three-pointer and later scored the final six points of the third as the Flames took a 55-48 lead into the fourth.

The Braves continued to fight in the fourth, however. Liberty's lead was 57-48 early in the fourth, when Haack knocked down back-to-back three-pointers to make it a three-point game at 57-54 nearing the six-minute mark. The Liberty lead was 59-56 closing in on five minutes left after a pair of Haack free throws, when the Flames would put the game out of reach. A three-point play by Asia Todd sparked a 9-1 run and was followed by one of Bradley's 22 turnovers on the day as Emily Lytle knocked down a three-pointer as the Flames quickly pushed the lead back to nine at 65-56.

Brackmann split a pair of free throws nearing the three-minute mark to make it an eight-point Liberty lead (65-57), only to have a Todd three-pointer with 2:07 left push the Flames' lead back to double digits (68-57). Liberty made seven of eight free throws in the final two minutes to close out the 75-63 victory.

Lasha Petree scored 15 of her 22 points between the second and third quarters and knocked down three of five three-pointers. Bradley's seven-game win streak is tied for the fourth longest in program history.

Todd was one of four Liberty players to score in double figures, pacing the Flames with 20 points.

Bradley closes out action at the Roo Holiday Classic Saturday with an 11 a.m. game against Eastern Washington in the final non-conference game of the season.

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