Taren O'Brien scored 11 of her team-high 17 points during a second-half comeback which nearly erased a 17-point deficit, but Illinois State fell just one shot short of catching Bradley, eventually losing 63-59 Saturday in a Missouri Valley Conference game televised on Fox Sports Network from Robertson Field House.
The 'Birds trailed 50-33 with 14:21 left in the game and Bradley had possession after an official's time out when the Redbirds kicked-in their defense and were sparkling on offense. Erin Keeney's jumper started a 10-0 Redbird run which featured buckets by O'Brien, Zora Skrabalova and Jaci McCormack, plus a pair of O'Brien free throws. An O'Brien trey, a Sharon Blade turnaround jumper and Keeney's slashing eight-footer helped ISU slice the lead to 55-50 with 7:07 left.
But Bradley answered as freshman Ashley Chelleen scored two of her game-high 21 points and Rasheed Love, who had 10, scored a layup to put the Braves back up by nine with 5:42 left.
Illinois State, 2-10 overall, 0-3 in the Valley, refused to quit, though as the defense continued to shut down Bradley, which hit only free throws the rest of the way. Bradley led 61-54 with 3:45 left when Keeney drained a three-ball after a time out. After the first of back-to-back Jaci McCormack steals, Keeney hit a shot which was ruled too late on the shot clock. Another McCormack steal set-up O'Brien for a pair of free throws with 1:46 left to slice the Bradley lead to 61-59.
With steals by Stacey White and key rebounds by Keeney and Donovan, ISU had three chances down just two, but couldn't convert. Eventually, fouls in the final 10 seconds helped Bradley score the final two points.
Blade came off the bench to score 10 points while Donovan grabbed a season-best 11 rebounds as Illinois State recovered from a disappointing first half in which the 'Birds had an 18-10 rebounding advantage and shot 57 percent, but BU, 5-8, 1-3 in the Valley, still led 39-29 thanks to 10-12 foul shots by the Braves and 16 Redbird turnovers.
Head coach Jenny Yopp said after the loss it was disappointing since the chances to comeback were many.
"Our kids are obviously disappointed," Yopp said. "We had our chances to get the comeback. The key play was Erin's shot that was ruled after the clock expired. If we would have gotten that in in time, it would have been big for us."
O'Brien, who made all seven of her free throws along with a pair of three-point shots, navigated the Redbird comeback.
"Without Taren, our team would never have gotten back as close as we did," Yopp said. "We gave up too many free throws and that was part of the discipline that we thought we needed to win.
In the end, Bradley shot 27 free throws to Illinois State's 16, helping negate Redbird edges in shooting (48.9 percent to 38 percent) and rebounding (36-26 for the game).
"We gave up too many free throws and that was part of the discipline that we thought we needed to win," said Yopp "We had key players in foul trouble in the first half and that effected our chemistry on the court. Their defensive intensity made the difference and we didn't have the lineups we wanted on the floor."
Illinois State returns to the court on Thursday, Jan. 16 against SMS in a Valley game at Redbird Arena. Tip-off is slated for 7 05 p.m.
