Nov. 25, 2008

Final Stats

Final Box

East Peoria, Ill. - The Northern Illinois women's basketball team dropped a 77-62 decision to Bradley on Tuesday evening at Lorene Ramsey Gymnasium as Michelle Lund's four second-half three pointers sparked the Braves (3-1) to victory.

"We got down in the first half and battled back to get within three," said NIU head coach Carol Owens. "In the second half, we left Lund open too many times and she took advantage of it. However, the thing I'm most disappointed about is getting out-rebounded."

Down 17-6 with 8:57 left in the first half, the Huskies (2-3) rallied back with an 18-6 run to take a one point lead, 24-23, after junior Kylie York (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern) hit a three to cap the run that featured a pair of threes by junior Terriel Cannon (Hillside, Ill./Proviso West) and a pair of lay-ups by senior Aileen Rossouw (Plano, Texas/Auburn).

However, on the next play Leah Kassing scored on a lay-up to put Bradley back in front as they finished the half with a 33-30 lead behind a 23 to 15 rebounding advantage.

With the Braves up 48-46 at the 11:56 mark of the second half, a 15-4 run pushed Bradley in front 63-50 with 6:11 to go as Lauren Niemiera sank seven points in the stretch.

Sophomore Ebony Ellis' (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Township) basket with 4:02 remaining cut the deficit to 63-56, but a four-point play and consecutive three-point plays by the Braves proved to be the final push that Bradley needed as they held a 73-58 advantage with 2:37 left. The four-point play came off the hands of Lund as she was fouled while she nailed the fourth three of her four second half triples and the fifth of the game. Skye Johnson then hit a three that was followed by a lay-up from Monica Rogers in which she was fouled on and converted the free throw.

Lund led Bradley with 22 points and six assists and Rogers added 11 points along with 14 rebounds. As a team, the Braves scored 23 fastbreak points to NIU's 15 and pulled down 44 rebounds to the Huskies' 32. Bradley also hit eight of 13 three pointers, while the Huskies hit only three of 14 attempts.

Ellis and sophomore Marke Freeman (Springfield, Ill./Florida A&M) each totaled 11 points for NIU.

The Huskies return to the court on Saturday, November 29 against UW-Milwaukee for their second home game of the season at 2 p.m. CST.

-NIU-