Every time Bradley and Drake have gotten together lately, something special has happened.
On Sunday, the Braves women’s basketball team defeated the Bulldogs, 63-55, hitting 9-of-10 free throws to close out the game.
“Free throws are huge,” Bradley coach Paula Buscher said. “You knock down those free throws, it changes possessions.
“You don’t knock down those free throw, to me, it’s just like a turnover on the offensive end.”
The Braves (14-10, 10-4) had been shooting 58 percent from the line. They finished the game 13-of-16, using that performance to pull away from a team that had given BU fits the last two meetings. The Braves needed a buzzer-beater and double overtime to win the last two in the Missouri Valley Conference series.
Sunday’s win was important for BU, but what happened off the court made it special.
The school raised nearly $7,000 from its seventh annual Pink Zone game. Of the funds raised, $1,500 came from specialized donations and the rest from $25 pledges for each 3-pointer hit by the Braves.
“It was a great atmosphere,” said Bradley athletics director Michael Cross, who was in attendance for his first Pink Zone game since coming to Bradley in January.
“I think its a tremendous organizational effort on the part of coach Buscher and her team … to unify everybody around a really important cause.”
The Braves hit two of their six 3-pointers in the first half, and trailed 28-26 at the break after committing 15 turnovers.
Turnovers have been a problem for Bradley all season. The Braves are averaging 21 a game.
“At the times that we were turning the ball over we weren’t as composed as we needed to be,” Buscher said. “We weren’t as confident as we needed to be.”
Although Buscher didn’t like how her team performed in the first half, the coach said she was glad the team was able to hang around enough to keep it close.
“Our defensive intensity in the first half wasn’t where I wanted it to be,” she said. “I thought Drake came out to start the game as the aggressors and I didn’t think we matched that aggressiveness.”
The Braves came out firing in the second half.
Sonya Harris scored the first points of the half to tie the game at 38-38. Drake (13-11, 6-8) answered before Bradley went on a 24-9 spurt to go up 52-39.
Renee Frericks, who hit five threes in last season’s Pink Zone game, had three 3-pointers in the stretch.
“I just came out and did what my team needed,” said the senior, who scored nine. “I got some open looks and I was able to drop them.”
The Braves were 6-of-23 from long range in the game, which is tied for the third-most attempts by the team this season.
Buscher, who pledged $25 for each 3-pointer her team made, said the Pink Zone had no effect on her game plan.
“We’ve got some shooters and when they’re in there and when they’re open they’re going to go ahead and let it fly,” she said. “It didn’t have anything to do with that, but I am more than glad to pay up.”
Freshman Katie Yohn had two 3-pointers for the Braves, and finished with a team-high 16 points. Hanna Muegge had one three.
Drake’s Kristin Turk, who scored the Bulldogs’ first eight of the game, finished with 22.
The Braves win — and a loss later Sunday by Creighton (15-9, 10-5) — put Bradley alone in second place in the MVC.
“This weekend was very big,” Frericks said. “It was a huge positioning game. It keep us in the hunt for one of those top two spots.”
Alex Mayster can be reached at 686-3214 or [email protected]
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