TERRE HAUTE, Ind.
? The Indiana State Sycamores trailed by seven points at halftime in Thursday's
(Jan. 10) women's college basketball game against Bradley, but showed a renewed
fire on the defensive end after intermission in downing the Braves, 70-65, at
Hulman Center in front of 3,422 fans.
ISU broke a two-game MVC losing streak to improve to 7-6,
1-2 while Bradley fell to 6-7, 0-2.
Down 45-39 at the first media timeout with 15:53 left in the
game, the Hulman Center crowd got their fire going when ISU student Adam Hayden
drilled a half-court shot during a promotional contest, and then the Sycamores
renewed their energy on the defensive end on the first possession after the
impressive shot by Hayden with an important steal in the post from freshman
Kelsie Cooley.
From there, Angela Phillips scored on a fast break to cut
the advantage down to 45-41 and then came right back with 3-pointer by Kelsey
Luna to inch within a point with 14:51
left.
After another Bradley turnover on the next trip down, the
Sycamore run continued on a jumper by Laura Rudolphi, which gave Indiana
State its first lead since the 4:41 mark of the first half.
Maria Olsthoorn, who came into the game as the nation's
second-leading free throw shooter, knotted the score at 47 for the final time
with 13:41 left, and her second make at the charity stripe gave the Sycamores a
lead that they would lose just twice briefly throughout the rest of the game.
A lay-up by Kelly Krumwiedie with 5:41 left gave Bradley its final lead of the game,
56-55, but Annie Bankhead went strong to the hoop for a 57-56 that ISU would
not lose.
The lead grew to 63-58 with 2:13
left on a turnaround jumper by Laura Rudolphi and then Luna put the dagger in
with a 3-pointer as the clocked ticked under a minute for the 66-58 advantage.
The Braves got within three points, 66-63, with 18 seconds
left, but Angela Phillips connected on a pair of free throws with 13 seconds
left and iced the game with 1.2 seconds on the clock by draining another set of
foul shots for the 70-65 victory.
Luna paced the team with 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers
in the contest. Angela Phillips added 15 of her own to go with six assists
while Rudolphi posted 12 points on an impressive 6-of-11 shooting effort from
the field.
Off the bench, Kara Schilli scored seven points and pulled
down a pair of rebounds.
Bradley out-shot the Sycamores by hitting 52 % of their
shots from the field, while the Sycamores connected on 43.9 %. The Braves
turned the ball over 20 times in the game and Indiana
State converted those miscues into
24 points.
The Braves were led by Krumwiedie and Renee Frericks 12
points each.
With the victory, ISU avoided its first 0-3
Valley start since the 04-05
season. The Sycamores improved to 6-0 on the season when holding an opponent to
less than 73 points.
The game against Bradley was the first for the Sycamores on
its homecourt since facing off against Michigan
State on December 8.
ISU won't have to wait that long to get back in front of the
home crowd, as they will come right back on Saturday, January 12 at Hulman
Center against Northern
Iowa. The Panthers fell, 74-53, tonight at Illinois
State. Tip-off is set for 2:05 p.m. (EST).
