Dec. 18, 2005

Final Stats

Peoria, Ill. - Despite career highs from Tyler McIlwraith and Yanique Javois, the Saint Louis Billikens saw a second-half rally fall short in a 77-65 loss to Bradley in Peoria, Ill., on Sunday afternoon. McIlwraith poured in a game-high 24 points, while Javois added 15. The Billikens trailed by as many as 15 points and cut the deficit to four but could not get any closer.

The Braves scored the first five points of the game until Tyler McIlwraith tallied for the Bills on a driving layup to cut the lead to 5-2. The Bills went scoreless for the next four minutes and Bradley eased out to an 11-2 lead. Yanique Javois to break the drought. The Billikens scored on consecutive steals for layups as McFarland and Hayley Leake both went end-to-end to cut the gap to 13-8. The Braves stretched the lead to 22-13 until Leake drained a 3-pointer from the left wing as the Billikens closed to 22-16. Bradley built its first double-digit lead of the game, but Javois and Jackie Gilbert hit long jumpers as the Bills cut the deficit to 27-20 with four minutes to play in the first half. The Braves responded with a 12-4 run to close out the half to take a 39-24 lead at intermission.

Javois keyed a 6-0 Billiken burst with two straight jumpers, and SLU finally cut the lead to single-digits when McIlwraith drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to pull the Bills to 49-40 with 12 minutes to play. Heather King hit two free throws as the Billikens closed to 51-44 midway through the second half. She then drew a charge and scored on the next Bills' possession to cut the gap to 51-46. After Bradley hit one free throw, Javois rattled in a jumper from just inside the arc as the Billikens drew to 52-48 with nine minutes left. However, Bradley put together a 7-2 run over the next three minutes to regain control at 59-50. McFarland hit a long jumper as the shot clock was wining down to pull the Billikens within seven at 61-54, but Devyn Flanagan sank a trey from the wing to answer for Bradley with 3:49 left in the game. The Billikens again got the deficit to seven on McIlwraith's 3-pointer with 3:02 left. Flanagan again answered with another trey with 2:28 to keep the Braves up by 10. McIlwraith hit two free throws and a trey to keep the Billikens close, but the Braves hit free throws in the last 90 seconds to hold on for the win.

The Billikens shot a season-best 48.1 percent from the field, including a 14-for-25 (56.0 percent) performance in the second half. The Billikens drop to 1-7, and the Braves improve to 4-5.

The Billikens return to action on Thursday, Dec. 22, when they host Southern Illinois in a 5 p.m. game at Savvis Center. The game is part of the doubleheader with the men, who host Gonzaga afterwards.