Bradley’s Kaylen Nelson fired in 30 points and Mya Wardle added 25 points, including seven 3-pointers, as the Braves defeated Indiana State 85-75 in Missouri Valley Conference women’s basketball Saturday afternoon at Hulman Center.
Jayci Allen scored 13 points for the Sycamores, but Bradley put together a strong fourth quarter to seal the outcome. It didn’t help that Wardle went 7 for 8 from beyond the 3-point arc, with ISU coach Marc Mitchell saying his team probably leads the nation in giving up 3-pointers.
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In order to slow down the opponents, Mitchell said they constantly work on it.
“We work on it, we talk about it, we show film, we get them in film session, we talk about it, we go in practice,” Mitchell said. “Maybe we need new players.”
Mitchell was pleased with the performance of 6-foot-2 sophomore forward Amerie Flowers, who had a near double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.
“Ms. Flowers has a lot of energy,” Mitchell mentioned. “She’s a great character kid. She wants to be great and her work ethic shows that. So that’s the example of what you need to be as a college athlete. You have to want to win. You have to want to be great. You have to be listening to coaching and then actually put the extra work in.”
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The Braves went on a 4-0 run to take a 6-2 lead before Flowers quelled it as she bodied up against defenders and put it home. Da’Naria Washington followed that with a layup to tie it. The Sycamores played with pace as Kayla Smith drained a 3-pointer and the Sycamores found themselves on a 7-0 run that became 9-0 on a bucket by Samiyah Briggs.
Then the visitors went cold as ISU heated up. That Sycamore run turned into double digits as Flowers put home her second bucket of the game to make it 11 straight Indiana State points. Bradley eventually got a bucket to pause the bleeding on a 3-pointer from Micah Cooper.
ISU had the hot hand after that initial run by Bradley as the Sycamores kept their foot on the gas. The Braves kept pace enough to prevent a double-digit lead as they went on a 6-0 run to pull within 17-15 late in the first quarter.
Bradley took a one-point lead in the second quarter on three free throws by Nelson. But Allen answered with an old-fashioned three-point play.
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Bradley took the lead back on a 3-pointer by Wardle, but ISU grabbed it back on a Briggs layup. The Sycamores started to go cold as the Braves heated up with an 8-0 run to go up 29-22. Flowers knocked down one of two free throws to stop the bleeding on that Bradley run until the Braves found another bucket.
Allen cranked in a 3-pointer to pull ISU within 36-35 by halftime.
The Sycamores couldn’t keep the hot shooting going in the second half and Mitchell wasn’t pleased with some of his key players. Tierney Kelsey, ISU’s leading scorer for the season at 13.7 points per outing, finished 2 for 11 from the field, Flowers went 3 for 11 and Kennedy Claybrooks went 4 for 8 from the field, including 0 for 3 from deep.
“Tierney Kelsey can’t go 2 for 11, [if] you want to be one of the great guards that they talk about in this league you can’t be 2 for 11,” Mitchell said. “You can’t go 2 for 13 or whatever it was against Murray [actually 4 for 13].”
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He said great players make great plays.
“I’m not just singling out T.K.,” Mitchell said. “That goes for Kennedy. That goes for Da’Naria Washington. It goes for Sami Briggs. It goes for everybody.”
It was an interesting start to the third quarter as Flowers was assessed a technical foul and the Braves used that to gain energy and take a 46-37 lead. The Sycamores hustled and showed grit in the way they grabbed rebounds and looked for opportunities, but sometimes those attempts just didn’t fall. But Claybrooks got one to go that pulled ISU within 46-44.
Wardle drained another 3-pointer to put the Braves up eight with 2:25 left in the third quarter. The Sycamores did their best to chip away at the deficit and kept it under double digits as the Braves led 61-53.
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In the fourth quarter, the Sycamores played Bradley tightly, but the Braves were able to push the lead to 10 with 7:46 to go. From there, the visitors sealed the outcome.
BRADLEY (85) — Nelson 8-15 10-10 30, Wardle 8-12 2-2 25, Foz 4-8 4-5 12, Tamia Perryman 4-9 3-4 12, McDermid 1-5 1-2 3, Cooper 1-6 0-0 3, Fortson 0-1 0-0 0, O’Hara 0-3 0-0 0, Washington 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 26-63 FG, 20-23 FT, 85 TP.
INDIANA STATE (75) — Allen 3-7 5-5 13, Briggs 5-7 1-1 12, Claybrooks 4-8 2-2 10, Flowers 3-11 3-5 9, Kelsey 2-11 5-5 9, Prackett 4-7 1-2 9, Washington 3-8 1-3 7, Smith 1-5 3-3 6. Totals 25-64 FG, 21-26 FT, 75 TP.
Bradley 15 21 25 24 — 85
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Indiana State 17 18 18 22 — 75
3-point shooting — Bradley 13-25 (Wardle 7-8, Cooper 1-2, Nelson 4-7, Perryman 1-4, Washington 0-1, Foz 0-1, McDermid 0-2), ISU 4-16 (Briggs 1-1, Allen 2-4, Smith 1-3, Washington 0-1, Claybrooks 0-3, Kelsey 0-4). Rebounds — Bradley 36 (Nelson 7), ISU 42 (Flowers 12). Assists — Bradley 14 (Wardle 4), ISU 10 (Washington, Claybrooks 4). Total fouls — Bradley 21, ISU 16. Technical foul — Flowers. Fouled out — none.
Next — Indiana State (8-15, 4-9) plays at Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. EST Thursday and Bradley (16-8, 9-4) plays at Evansville at 8 p.m. Friday.
