Peoria, Ill. - Bradley Women's Basketball ended their final home game of the season with a 65-54 win over the UIC Flames on Saturday.

A Back-and-Forth Start

The Braves and Flames exchanged points early in the first quarter before the Braves went on an eight-point run to end the quarter with a 14-10 lead. Bradley continued to execute early in the second quarter, but UIC started heating up late in the quarter, going on a 13-point run that ended the first half with a tie score.

Standout Performances for Bradley

• Soleil Barnes was a rebound shy of her first double-double of the season and an extra three assists away from her first triple-double. Barnes finished the day with 20 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists while also scoring the game-winner in the fourth quarter.

• Ellie McDermid was also a rebound shy of getting a double-double in what would have been her fourth of the season. She ended the day with 15 points, nine rebounds, two assists, two blocks, and three steals to earn the Ameren Illinois Player of the Game.

A Fourth Quarter Performance

Bradley and UIC went blow for blow in the third quarter, keeping the game tied heading into the final 10 minutes. The Braves came out firing in the fourth with a nine-point run to start the quarter. On top of putting on a good offensive performance, the Braves held the Flames to just five points up until the final 20 seconds of the game when Bradley already had a 14-point lead.

Breaking Away

One area where the Braves have struggled all season was capitalizing on fast breaks and catching their opponents off-guard. However, Bradley did a great job of finishing breakaways in this one, scoring 15 points on fast breaks while holding the Flames to 11.

Coming up…

The Braves will begin their final road trip of the season on Thursday as they take on the Southern Illinois Salukis in what is their second to last game of the season.