Lady Bears beat Bradley, 58-54

March 09, 2012|by Gene Hartley

ST. CHARLES, Mo. -- The top-seeded Missouri State University Lady Bears squeaked out a comeback win, 58-54, over the 8th-seended Bradley University Lady Braves in the Missouri Valley Conference basketball tournament quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. MSU next will play on Saturday at 1:30 against Creighton University, which beat the University of Northern Iowa, 53-46. Fox Sports Midwest will televise the game.

Missouri State got revenge on Bradley, which beat them in Springfield last Saturday, 86-69, ending the Lady Bears' 11-game winning streak and spoiling Senior Day at JQH Arena.

Bradley led 26-24 at halftime and had an eight-point lead, 41-33, with 10:32 left to play. The Lady Bears chipped away, and defense won the game. MSU tied the game at 46 with 6:39 left after a 9-0 run, and the game see-sawed for the next 5 minutes. MSU took the lead for good, 56-54, with 1:01 left on two free throws by Karly Buer.

The Lady Braves scored their last field goal with 3:45 left in the game.

Buer led the Lady Bears (22-7, 14-4 MVC) with 17 points, and clinched the game with 4 free throws in the last 1:01. Casey Garrison scored 15, including 9 of 10 from the free throw line. Christiana Shorter scored 9 points and snagged a game-high 9 rebounds. Whitney Edie and Jasmine Malone had 6 rebounds apiece.

For the Lady Braves (17-15, 7-11 MVC), Leah Kassing led all scorers with 19 points and led Bradley with 7 rebounds. Catie O'Leary scored 9 points and got 6 rebounds.

The difference in the game, which was marked by woeful shooting, was the number of free throws. Missouri State made 19 of 27 from the line, while Bradley made 15 of 21. Each team made 18 field goals, including 3 3-point shots. Each team made exactly one-third of their shots from the field.

The game was tied 10 times and the lead changed eight times. Neither team scored during a stretch lasting more than five minutes in the first half. MSU had another scoring drought in the second half as Bradley scored 9 straight points.

MSU committed 21 turnovers and Bradley had 20 tournovers.

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Play-by-play and box score

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