TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? It was senior day this afternoon at Hulman Center and what a better way to send out Leah Phillips and Kara Schilli then by defeating the Bradley Braves (19-8, 10-6 MVC), the No. 4 team in the conference by a final score of 62-58. Indiana State (14-13, 10-6 MVC) will finish the season with just one loss in conference play at home.
Despite a quick layup by Bradley's Raisa Taylor, Phillips knocked down her first three-point attempt since tearing her ACL on January 1 against Drake to get the Hulman Center crowd on their feet. Kelsie Cooley, who drained 22 points last game to tie her career high, followed Phillips' three-ball with a nifty bank-shot in the lane to put Indiana State up 5-2 early on.
That lead would be extended to 10-4 at the 16:31 mark after Amanda Pedro scored back-to-back baskets ? first on an offensive rebound and put-back followed up by a three-pointer to register five quick points for her Sycamore squad. After a media timeout, Shannon Thomas got in on the scoring action by receiving the ball under the hoop from Sarah Paul and easily putting it in to extend the lead to 12-4.
The Braves then stormed back thanks in large part to their pressing defense that forced five Sycamore turnovers. Monica Rogers hit two jumpers to spark the run as the lead was cut to four at 14-10 with 12:02 left in the half.
Schilli then drove the lane and scored a quick bucket putting Indiana State back up by six. However, a 10-2 Bradley scoring run including a three-pointer by Jenny Van Kirk that were the first Brave points not scored from inside the paint, gave the visitors their first lead at 20-18 since scoring the initial bucket of the contest.
The Sycamores fought back with seven straight points that included a Megan Burton three-pointer, a Schilli jumper, and two free-throws from Brittany Schoen that put the home team back by five, 25-20 with 5:14 remaining.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Renee Frericks followed up with a Hanna Muegge jumper on a fast break gave the Braves a three-point advantage at 28-25. However, a Pedro three-ball broke the Braves 8-0 scoring spurt and tied the ballgame up at 28-all with 2:08 showing on the game clock that forced the Bradley head coach into calling a thirty-second timeout. Out of the break, Muegge converted a short jumper to put the Braves back up by two. Schilli matched Muegge the next time down the court when she received the ball in the paint from Thomas and finished the turn around jumper to tie the game back up at 30-30.
Indiana State would take a 32-30 lead heading into halftime after Thomas blocked a Bradley layup attempt and then was rewarded on the offensive end when Schilli made a great pass to Thomas underneath the basket who finished the easy put in before the buzzer sounded.
The Sycamores shot 48 percent from the field on 13-of-27 shooting. They were led in first-half scoring by Pedro with eight points.
For Bradley, they shot 35 percent on 13-of-37 shooting and were led in scoring by Renee Frericks with nine points. Eighteen of the Braves 30 points were scored from inside the paint.
Second half action started just like the first with Bradley scoring an almost immediate layup to tie the game at 32-all. Cooley would make 2-for-2 charity tosses to put the Sycamores back up by two early on.
Laurence Rivest, who suffered an ACL tear before the season started and saw her first collegiate basketball action this afternoon, tallied her first career assist when she found Thomas underneath the basket. Following a Rogers jumper, Sarah Paul had control of the ball at the top of the key when she was closely pressured by a Bradley defender. Paul decided to take the ball all the way around the right wing and straight to the basket to sink the layup. Unfortunately, another Bradley layup would tie the game back up at 38-38 with 16:27 left to play.
After two more Cooley free-throws, the Braves regained the lead at 41-40 when Frericks made her third three-pointer of the game at the 13:30 mark. Skye Johnson extended the Bradley lead at 43-40 when she stole the ball and went on a solo fast break to score the layup at 10:07. Thomas would follow with a jumper inside the paint to bring Indiana State within one but yet another Bradley bucket inside the paint put the score at 45-42 in favor of the visiting team.
Schoen, after starting out 0-for-4 from three-point range, made three consecutive baskets from behind the arc to give the Sycamores some momentum and put Indiana State up 51-49 with about five minutes to play. Pedro would nail a three-pointer 90 seconds later to give the Sycamores a four-point advantage at 55-51.
With 1:28 remaining, the Sycamores held a two-point lead at 55-53 after Bradley scored another basket inside the paint. Schoen came up huge once again with another three-pointer to tally a career-high 14 points and put Indiana State up 58-53.
After Bradley's Sonya Harris added a layup to make it 58-55, the ball was in the hands of the Sycamores with less than 30 ticks to play. Indiana State sent Paul to the free-throw in a bonus situation after being fouled, but she failed to make the charity toss and the score remained 58-55.
After a jump-ball situation, the possession arrow favored Bradley with 9.6 seconds to play. The Braves called a timeout to set up a play but a three-pointer by Michelle Lung hit off the side of the backboard and went out of bounds.
With 6.3 seconds to play, Indiana State got the ball in bounds to Paul who had a chance to redeem herself after missing a free-throw a moment earlier. Paul did just that after she made both free-throws to put the game out of reach for Bradley at 60-55.
However, a banked hail-mary three-pointer by Frericks stunned the Hulman Center crowd and brought Bradley within three with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Head coach Jim Wiedie drew up the perfect play that sent Paul sprinting down the court. Schilli tossed the inbounds pass right into her hands past mid-court and Paul was immediately fouled. Once again, Paul drained both free-throws and this time Bradley had no chance of coming back. Indiana State pulled out the 62-58 victory over the Braves, the perfect way to send out their two seniors who played in their final game at home ? Phillips and Schilli.
The Sycamores finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field including a 39 percent mark from three-point range (9-of-23). An 11-for-13 showing from the charity stripe including a 4-5 effort from Paul down the stretch helped the Sycamores seal the victory. Paul played a key role in tonight's victory as she controlled the point-guard position for a career-high 38 minutes. Indiana State was led in scoring by Schoen who tallied a career-high 14 points. Pedro also chipped in a career-high 12 points. Thomas also had an impressive performance pouring in eight points and nine rebounds.
Indiana State received 29 points from their bench and 21 points off of Bradley turnovers.
Bradley shot 39 percent on 26-for-67 shooting including just 5-for-23 from three-point range not to mention only 1-for-3 from the free-throw line. The Braves were led by Frericks with 15 points and had two players with double-doubles ? Harris who tallied 10 points and pulled down 12 rebounds and Rogers who had ten points and ten rebounds.
Indiana State has two remaining regular season contests left before making a trip to the State Farm MVC Tournament in St. Charles, Mo. The Sycamores will take on Creighton on March 5 at 8:05 p.m. EST and then face Drake on March 7 for a 3:05 p.m. EST tipoff.
The State Farm MVC Tournament will take place on March 12-15.
