After dropping two games on the road, Bradley women’s basketball (5-15, 1-8 MVC) returned to Renaissance Coliseum last week hoping to gain some needed momentum.
However, when Drake and Northern Iowa came to town, not much changed for the Braves.
First place Bulldogs take care of Braves
Drake came to Peoria with the hopes of continuing their success in the Valley and were ultimately victorious.
In the first quarter it was all Bulldogs from the beginning, as Drake started the game on a 7-0 run before freshman Armoni Strozier made a layup to get the Braves on the board. Drake continued to surge and, by the end of the first frame, the Bulldogs held on to a 27-18 lead.
In the second quarter, the Bulldogs kept the foot on the gas and started the quarter off strong on an 8-2 run. Bradley controlled the Drake offensive attack better this time, but still trailed 45-31 heading into halftime.
In the third quarter, it was the Braves’ turn to come out strong; starting the second half on a 6-0 run to cut their deficit to single digits. The Bulldogs equalized the Braves’ run with a 14-5 run themselves to end the quarter with a commanding 64-45 lead.
The fourth quarter was better for Bradley as they outscored Drake 20-13 in the final 10 minutes of action. Despite the Braves performing better in the final frame, the deficit was too much to overcome and they dropped a competitive game to the Bulldogs, 65-77.
Freshman Halli Poock led the Braves with 19 points on the night along with senior Isis Fitch coming off the bench to contribute 14 points of her own.
Bradley falls big to Northern Iowa
For a matchup that featured two teams sporting identical records both overall and in the Valley, the outcome was not kind to the Braves.
The first quarter set the tone early on, as Poock hit a layup to give the Braves the early lead. However, that would be Bradley’s only lead the entire game, as they were outscored by the Panthers in the quarter 11-34.
In the second quarter the Braves improved but were still down by a plethora of points, made worse by a buzzer-beater three made by UNI’s Rachael Heittola. Still, Bradley fared better in the scoring differential department, only being outscored 19-26.
Coming out of the locker room, the Braves looked motivated to right the ship. Ten seconds into the third quarter, Poock hit a layup to put the Braves into the scoring column. After that quick score, both teams continued to trade buckets with each other while UNI kept its lead over Bradley 81-50 heading into the final 10 minutes.
The game reached its decisive breaking point in the fourth quarter. In the first half of the frame, the Panthers scorched out to a 15-1 run that brought them closer to triple digits. UNI would end the night defeating Bradley 105-59.
The leading scorers for the Braves were Poock with 19 points and Fitch with 13 points.
Bradley looks to end their losing skid as they travel to Evansville to play the Aces on Feb. 3.
