Southern Illinois University
5-4,2-2MVC
Bradley University
7-4,3-1MVC
Salukis suffer 80-68 setback at Bradley
01/09/2021 | 6:20:00 | Women's Basketball
Abby Brockmeyer becomes 28th Saluki to score 1,000-career points but Bradley completes the series sweep.
The Southern Illinois University women's basketball team suffered an 80-68 setback to the Bradley Braves in Missouri Valley Conference play Saturday evening inside Renaissance Coliseum.
The Salukis led by as many as five early but struggled offensively late in the contest. After SIU took a 50-48 lead on a layup by Gabby Walker with 4:48 to play in the third, the Braves outscored the Salukis 23-4 over the next eight minutes of play to build a lead that stood up.
"I feel better after this game than I did yesterday," eighth-year head coach Cindy Stein said. "I felt like we got better. If we were where we needed to be conditioning-wise, we could've done a little more. But we had some young kids in new situations which allowed us to get better. We have to continue to focus on that."
Southern got off to a much better start in Saturday's game, as its offense clicked from the jump. The Salukis shot 48.5-percent (16-of-33) from the field, which including 50-percent (5-of-10) from behind the arc. The Braves countered by shooting 61.5-percent from the floor in the opening half and 57.1-percent (5-of-8) from long distance.
The second half, however, was a different story. Southern's offense sputtered, shooting just 32-percent (10-of-31) from the field and 2-of-9 (22-percent) from three-point range. The Braves took advantage, as they shot 66.7-percent (14-of-21) from the field in the second half, which included 71.4-percent (10-of-14) from the floor in the third quarter.
"We had a good first half offensively," Stein said. "We needed to carry that over to the second half and we didn't. We fought and we scrapped and we tried to get to the line as much as we could. We had the shot attempts to make it happen and we just didn't."
Abby Brockmeyer scored her 1,000 career point and was a rebound shy of a double-double on Saturday. Brockmeyer became just the 28th Saluki in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau with her 11 points and nine rebounds in the loss.
"We are really proud of Abby," Stein said. "She really had to battle today and was being double- and triple-teamed at times. She battled today and she's going to keep getting better and better."
Makenzie Silvey and Payton McCallister joined Brockmeyer in double figures in the loss. Silvey scored a team-high 17 points while McCallister reached double figures for the fourth-straight game with 15 points, three assists and two steals.
Gabi Haack, Lasha Petree and Nyjah White combined to score 80-percent (64-of-80) of Bradley's 80 points in the win.
The Salukis continue their four-game road swing next weekend when they travel to Chicago, Ill. to play two against the Loyola Ramblers.
