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Women’s basketball fall to 0-6 after two close losses

Sophomore Charnelle Reed looks for a Brave to pass the ball to in the team’s exhibition victory over Eureka last month. Photo by Maggie Cipriano.
Sophomore Charnelle Reed looks for a Brave to pass the ball to in the team’s exhibition victory over Eureka last month. Photo by Maggie Cipriano.

There’s no place like home, Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz.

Entering Thanksgiving week, the Bradley women’s basketball team had only two road games left in its season-long five game road trip before coming home for an eight game home stand, which could not come soon enough for the Braves.

Following their loss to No. 18 DePaul, Bradley lost games to Oklahoma University, Stony Brook University and Columbia University but returned home to play Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) on Nov. 30.

In the first two games against Oklahoma and Stony Brook, not even the wonderful wizard could help the Braves, who lost big 104-55 and 79-63, respectively.

But the two most recent games against Columbia and SEMO. had the Braves in winnable situations.
However, the team could not capitalize, which put the Braves at an 0-6 start to their season.

“[In] our last two games, we should’ve had two wins,” head coach Michael Brooks said. “The first game [against Columbia] we were up by nine with five minutes left. We’ve got to finish that.”

In New York, against Columbia, the Braves led for more than 33 minutes of the game but relinquished it to Columbia after the Lions went on a 12-4 run to take a 55-54 late in the second half.

The game went into overtime when sophomore Leti Lerma split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 66.

In the extra frame, Bradley regained the lead 74-72 on two of Michelle Young’s career-high 38 points, which tied Judy Burn’s 31-year-old Bradley record for most points in a game.

However, Columbia took advantage of Bradley’s overtime miscues and pulled out an 81-74 victory over the Braves.

Sophomore guard Charnelle Reed said the loss was due to a lack of one of the most basic fundamentals.
“It came down to free throws,” Reed said. “If we would’ve hit just a couple, we would’ve won the game. It’s the little things that we need to focus on.”

Following the loss to Columbia, the Braves had similar results against SEMO.

This time, the Braves fell far behind as the Redhawks hammered Bradley with a 22-2 first half run, led 26-8 at one point and took a 36-24 lead into halftime.

The second half featured what Brooks said was some of the best basketball his tean has played in a long time.

“We dug ourselves a big hole early, and we stormed back in the second half,” Brooks said. “We probably played the best half of basketball Bradley’s played in a long time.”

Despite the comeback, the Redhawks were able to stave off the Braves and spoil their home opener 70-65.

Lerma, who scored a game and season high 21 points against SEMO, limped off in the second half.
Coach Brooks said Lerma would be ready to play in the game against Missouri, but freshman forward Tamya Sims would not.

“She has a stress reaction in her quad, so she’s been out for a month,” Brooks said. “She’s probably our best player as a freshman when she came in her first two games.”

According to Brooks, Sims will miss another month before she is ready to return to practice.

Although the Braves will lose their star freshman, redshirt sophomore Whitney Tinjum will return to the team and become eligible to play in the Dec.18 game against Chicago State.

“We’re just looking to getting back those two big pieces in our middle,” Brooks said. “We’re looking forward to getting one healthy and one finally out there for the first time.”

The Braves resume their homestand against a Southeastern Conference opponent Dec. 6 in Missouri and take on Western Illinois Dec. 9.

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