Dec. 29, 2009

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ST. LOUIS - Lauren Woods scored a career- and game-high 23 points, and Katie Paganelli tallied a season-high 20 points, but Bradley finished the game on a 12-4 run and defeated Saint Louis 72-66 Tuesday night in front of a season-high 1,653 fans at Chaifetz Arena.

Woods added five rebounds, three assists and a game-high four steals for the Billikens (5-8), and Paganelli had three steals. Amanda Kemezys pulled down a team-high six rebounds, and Ayriell Robinson had three steals.

Jenny Van Kirk and Raisa Taylor led Bradley (4-6) with 15 points apiece, and Van Kirk grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to help lead the Braves to a 44-37 advantage on the boards. Van Kirk also recorded five assists, while Taylor added six rebounds and four assists. Renee Frericks collected 12 points on 4-of-8 3-point shooting and added five assists, while Sonya Harris chipped in 10 points and seven rebounds.

After Woods sank two free throws with 3:08 left to give SLU a 62-60 lead, Bradley scored the next seven points for a 67-62 advantage with 41 seconds to play. Paganelli narrowed the gap to three with a pair of free throws with 27 seconds remaining, and following a Billiken steal on the inbounds pass, Woods was fouled and trimmed the BU lead to 67-66 with a pair of free throws with 23 seconds left.

Hanna Muegge netted two from the stripe to push the Bradley margin back to three points with 22 seconds left. After a Billiken 3-point attempt to tie fell just off the mark, Muegge made another free throw for a 70-66 edge with nine seconds remaining. Another 3-point try by the Bills was no good, and Taylor iced it for Bradley with two more free throws.

Bradley trailed 35-32 at halftime but gained a 42-40 edge at the 16:05 mark. Saint Louis claimed a 46-42 advantage on buckets by Kathryn Hester, Woods and Paganelli, only to see the Braves put together a 15-1 flurry to stretch out to the largest lead of the game for either team, 57-47, with 10:17 remaining.

However, the Billikens were not finished. Woods scored eight points and Jacy Bradley added five in a 15-3 spurt that gave SLU its 62-60 lead. The Bills actually scored 13 consecutive points to lead 60-57 before a trey by Frericks knotted the score at 60.

Bradley led most of the first half, and an 11-2 run gave the Braves a 27-18 cushion with 5:46 left. But Paganelli scored eight points, including a 4-point play, in a 12-0 run that put the Billikens on top 30-27. Bradley tied it at 32 on a 3-pointer by Katie Yohn, but Woods made a free throw and Paganelli scored a layup right before the buzzer to give SLU a 35-32 lead at the break.

Bradley shot 53.8 percent from the field in the second half to finish at 47.3 percent for the game. The Braves were 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) from 3-point range.

Saint Louis outscored Bradley 21-12 from the free-throw line and tied its season low with 11 turnovers while forcing 19 BU miscues, including a season-high 13 steals. That translated into a 27-9 advantage in points off turnovers. However, the Billikens shot just 24.2 percent from the field in the second half to finish at a season-low 32.3 percent for the game.

The Bills are back in action at Memphis Saturday, Jan. 2. Game time is noon.