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Western Illinois University Athletics

Taylor Higginbotham
Larry Dean
68
Western Illinois WIU 3-6
82
Winner Bradley BRAD 7-0
Western Illinois WIU
3-6
68
Final
82
Bradley BRAD
7-0
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Western Illinois WIU 11 18 17 22 68
Bradley BRAD 18 23 19 22 82

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Leathernecks Unable to Complete Comeback at Bradley

Western took on the undefeated Bradley Braves and trailed by five points in the final five minutes.

PEORIA, Ill. – Western Illinois women's basketball (3-6) took an undefeated Bradley team on the road Tuesday (Dec. 4) where it trailed by five points in the closing minutes but was unable to complete the comeback in an 82-68 decision. 

Western trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half before closing the deficit to five with 5:12 remaining in the game. 

"There were a lot of things that cost us a shot to win," said head coach JD Gravina. "We know we're going to be small and undersized, but we have to be a team that really gets after it. We saw that in the second half, with the group that sparked us, but we've got to pressure. 

"Offensively, to have eight assists and 20 turnovers is just really frustrating. The first half we had absolutely no offensive movement, and that's not the way we play basketball. I do think in the second half, we did a lot better job adjusting and were a little better offensively, but it was like it was new to us because we weren't used to playing like that." 

Despite a threatening Leatherneck squad, guided by senior Taylor Higginbotham, Bradley entered the half up by a dozen, 41-29. The Leathernecks were able to cut into the lead on several occasions, pulling within seven, 26-19, on back-to-back three-pointers from their senior, but weren't able to turn the corner. 

Higginbotham entered the break with a game-high 14 points and moved to fifth all-time on the Leathernecks' scoring list in the third quarter when she swished a 3-pointer with 8:06 on the clock. She finished the game with a team-high 21 points and currently manages 1,491 in her career. 

The point difference hovered around 12 until the under-5 mark of the third quarter where Bradley pushed ahead, 54-36, with 3:45 on the clock. The 18-point edge marked the largest of the game and shrunk to five with 5:12 left in play. 

Western ignited for an incredible run, scoring 17 points over a nearly four-minute span, in the fourth frame and suddenly the scoreboard read: Bradley 70, Western 65. The scoring effort saw Olivia Kaufmann add seven points and Elizabeth Lutz five, before Danni Nichols crowned the stretch on an up-and-under layup. 

The Braves embarked on a 7-0 run of their own following the stretch, and that closed the game for good. 

Next up on WIU's schedule will be the Compass Challenge, a two-day tournament that includes all four state schools of the cardinal directions. The games will be hosted on the campus of Southern Illinois, and Western is scheduled to take on Eastern  Illinois Friday at 4:30 p.m. before meeting Northern Illinois Saturday at 1 p.m. 


 
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