PEORIA, Ill. – Junior Chelsea Brackmann turned in her 13th double-double of the year (14 points & 15 rebounds) and freshman Lasha Petree scored a team-high 16 points off the bench to pace four Bradley players in double figures as the Braves completed the regular-season sweep of I-74 rival Illinois State with a 75-65 victory Friday at Renaissance Coliseum.
Bradley (18-7 overall, 8-6 MVC) moved into a tie with Illinois State (15-10 overall, 8-6 MVC) for fourth in the Missouri Valley Conference standings as Bradley snapped a five-game win streak for the Redbirds, which included a road win at league co-leader Missouri State last week.
The Braves also picked up their first sweep of the series with Illinois State since 2014-15 season after the teams split the regular-season series each of the last three seasons.
Bradley was able to get to the foul line early in the game, as the Braves overcame a 4-for-17 shooting performance in the first quarter to hold a 14-11 advantage 10 minutes into the contest. A three-pointer by Emily Marsh with 6:35 left in the second quarter gave Bradley a 20-13 advantage and the Braves had their largest lead of the first half at 28-20 with 2:26 left in the period on a Petree three-pointer before Illinois State scored the final eight points of the half to tie the game at 28-28 at the break.
A 13-3 Bradley run late in the third gave the Braves a 50-39 lead. Sophomore Gabi Haack, who had 10 points and a career-high eight assists, hit a pull-up jumper to start the spurt and assisted a Brackmann hoop. Brackmann reciprocated with an assist on a Haack layup after Illinois State split a pair of free throws.
A breakaway layup by Brackmann (assisted by Haack) pushed the lead to eight (45-37). The teams traded free throws to keep the Bradley advantage at eight, before freshman Haack found freshman Tatum Koenig for a three-pointer to give the Braves a 50-39 edge. Haack scored four points and dished out three assist during the run.
Bradley held the Redbirds without a field goal for the final 4:40 of the third and led 52-41 heading to the fourth. After an 8-for-30 (26.7 percent) shooting performance in the first half, Bradley shot 60 percent in the third quarter.
Petree gave Bradley its largest lead of the night at 61-45 with a three-pointer in the opening moments of the fourth, but Illinois State answered with a 9-0 run over the next 1:45 to cut the deficit to seven. Katrina Beck capped the ISU spurt, which included back-to-back hoops from Tete Maggett, to pull within seven (61-54) with 5:50 remaining.
A driving layup by Haack ended the Illinois State run and a three-point play by sophomore Nyjah White closing in on two minutes to play later pushed the lead to 12 at 68-56. A pair of Koenig free throws extended the BU lead back to 14 (70-56) and the Braves made 4-of-6 free throws in the final 40 seconds to close out the 75-65 victory. Bradley was 12-for-17 from the line in the fourth and 25-of-34 on the night from the charity stripe.
Brackmann picked up her 13th double-double of the year, which is tied for the second-highest season total in Bradley history as she had 14 points, 15 rebounds and four steals. Petree was 10-for-14 from the charity stripe, scoring a team-high 16 points off the bench. Haack finished with 10 points and a career-best eight assists, while senior Shunseere Kent was also in double figures with 10 points.
Lexy Koudelka paced Illinois State with a double-double of her own, tallying 20 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Redbirds. Simone Goods entered the game third in the MVC in scoring at 17.6 points per game and added 14, while Maggett was held six points below her season average (10 points). Kayel Newland joined the trio in double figures with 12 points to help lead Illinois State.
Bradley matched its highest season win total (18) since capping the 2011-12 season with an 18-16 mark and the last time the Braves won at least eight league games was 2012-13 (8-10). Friday's win gave Bradley a Renaissance Coliseum record 10 home wins on the year for the team's highest home win total dating back to a 12-2 home mark in 2008-09.
A three-game home stand continues next Thursday with Bradley taking on Valparaiso in a 7 p.m. contest at Renaissance Coliseum.