NORMAL, Ill. – Bradley entered the night with a chance to have sole possession of second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings at the halfway point of the league schedule, instead the Braves had to settle for a tie for second through nine games after a cold-shooting night resulted in a 66-54 loss at I-74 rival Illinois State Wednesday.
Bradley (10-6 overall, 6-3 MVC) shot just 29 percent from the floor, which included 25.8 percent in the second half, in the loss that snapped a three-game road win streak in the series for the Braves. Illinois State (9-3 overall, 6-3 MVC) led from wire to wire in the contest, but needed a 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter to pull away for the victory.
Senior Nyjah White scored Bradley's first six points in the first 3:30 of the game and the Braves trailed 8-6 after her third hoop of the night. The teams were scoreless for the next two minutes before Illinois State finally snapped the scoreless stretch with a Juliunn Redmond basket. The Redbirds ended the first quarter with an 8-2 run and led 16-8 after the opening period.
Bradley scored the first five points of the second quarter, pulling within three at 16-13, but a 6-2 ISU spurt quickly pushed the advantage back to seven points and the Redbirds led by as many as 10 points before the Braves scored the final four points of the frame.
Lasha Petree scored her first points of the night with a pair of free throws with 52 seconds and junior Tatum Koenig pulled down a defensive rebound and went the length of the court to beat the halftime buzzer with a layup to pull Bradley within six at 31-25 at the break.
Much like the first quarter, Bradley was cold from the field to start the third; opening the period 0-for-8 from the field. Illinois State took advantage and opened the period with a 10-2 run to open a 41-27 lead when a Petree three-pointer with 5:37 left in the period ended a Bradley drought.
Lasha scored Bradley's first 11 points of the third quarter before her sister Mahri Petree made a three-pointer with 1:22 left in the stanza. The Braves were able to score on six of their last seven possessions, but Illinois State answered down the stretch as Bradley trailed 51-43 heading to the fourth.
A pair of Gabi Haack free throws to start the fourth quarter pulled Bradley to within six points (51-45) and the Braves trailed 53-47 with just under eight minutes remaining, before a 10-0 Redbird run gave Illinois State its largest lead of the night at 63-47. Terrion Moore scored eight of her 20 points on the night during the Redbird burst that pushed the lead to 16 closing in on five minutes to play. The Braves managed just three field goals in the fourth quarter, all coming in the final 90 seconds as Illinois State ended Bradley's four-game win streak in regular-season matchups in the series.
Lasha Petree led Bradley with 13 points, while White joined her in double figures with 10 points. Haack had a career-best streak of 19 consecutive games with a three-pointer snapped in the setback, but did manage to pull down a team-best eight rebounds to go with her eight points.
Moore and Redmond tied for game-high honors with 20 points each to lead Illinois State in scoring.
Bradley has a week off from competition before playing a two-game series at Valparaiso Feb. 4 & 5 to finish out a season-long, three-game road swing.