PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley Women's Basketball never trailed in the contest, but needed some late free throws in the closing seconds to pull out a 61-57 victory over Southern Illinois Thursday night at Renaissance Coliseum as the Braves reached the 20-win mark for the second consecutive and fourth time in program history.
Sophomore
Lasha Petree scored a game-high 19 points to pace three Bradley players in double figures, while junior
Gabi Haack added 15 points to tie the Renaissance Coliseum career scoring record of 539 points originally set by
Anneke Schlueter in 2017-19.
Senior
Chelsea Brackmann added 14 points and eight rebounds, including three free throws in the final 25 seconds to break a 57-57 tie and help seal the win. Bradley locked up at least the #4 seed for the upcoming MVC Tournament with the victory and moved within one game of second-place Drake, which plays at Loyola Friday.
Bradley (20-6 overall, 11-4 MVC) shot 48.7 percent from the field and held a 31-25 rebounding edge, but Southern Illinois (15-11 overall, 7-8 MVC) forced the Braves into a season-high 25 turnovers, including 15 in the second half to close a 17-point fourth quarter deficit.
Extending its home win streak to 18 consecutive games, Bradley is now one win from matching the most wins in program history (21-10 in 2008-09) and the Braves have posted consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time. In addition, BU has 11 Missouri Valley Conference wins for the first time since matching a school record 12 league wins during the 2009-10 campaign.
In the opening quarter, Bradley held Southern Illinois without a field goal for the final 5:30 of the period. The Braves managed just five points during that span, however, and led 15-9 after the opening 10 minutes. Bradley was abke to push the lead to as many as seven points several times in the second quarter, before settling on a 32-27 halftime lead.
Just like the first quarter, the Braves held SIU without a field goal for the final 5:30 of the third quarter. This time Bradley was able to take advantage, closing the period with a 14-1 run to build a 50-35 advantage. Petree helped highlight the spurt with six points, including a three-pointer which stretched her streak of consecutive games with a made three to 23 contests.
Sophomore Tatum Koenig gave Bradley its biggest lead of the night in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter at 52-35 with a layup. That field goal was the last of the night for the Braves, however. The BU lead was still 17 (54-37) after a pair of Haack free throws, before Southern Illinois would make a push.
Makenzie Silvey started an 11-0 SIU run with a three-pointer near the six-minute mark and knocked down another after an offensive rebound with 4:29 left to play. A SIU steal on the next possession led to Silvey's third three-pointer in a little over two-minute stretch. Bradley came up empty on its two possessions and a pair of Kristen Nelson free throws with 3:11 on the clock trimmed the BU lead to 54-48.
Petree made a pair of free throws with 2:12 remaining to stop a four-minute BU drought and push the lead back to eight (56-48). The Braves later led 57-50 with 1:38 to play after Haack split a pair of free throws.
A Gabby Walker layup with 1:25 left pulled Southern Illinois within five and a SIU steal led to a pair of free throws for Abby Brockmeyer as the Braves lead was down to three (57-54) with just over a minute left.
Another BU turnover led to a Nelson three with 31.3 seconds remaining as the Salukis tied the game (57-57) for the first time since early in the first quarter.
Brackmann was fouled near midcourt with 24.4 seconds left and split a pair of free throws to once again put BU in front (58-57). Southern Illinois turned the ball over with less than five seconds to play and Brackmann added two more free throws with 2.1 seconds showing on the clock to make it a three-point cushion (60-57). Haack stole the ensuing SIU inbounds pass and split a pair of free throws to seal the 61-57 victory.
Silvey led three Southern Illinois players in double figures with 16 points, while Brockmeyer and Nelson each added 12 points.
Brackmann broke both the Renaissance Coliseum career rebounding and career blocks record in the contest after entering the game tied with Leti Lerma for the rebounding mark and former teammate Vanessa Markert for the blocks record.
The Braves return to action Sunday, hosting league-leading and nationally ranked (#17/21) Missouri State in a 2 p.m. game at Renaissance Coliseum in the final home game of the year. Seniors
Amber Bozeman, Brackmann and
Ryan Wilkins will be recognized prior to the contest.