SIU women’s basketball got itself back in the winning column after a 66-57 road win Friday over Bradley.

Freshmen forward Chelsea Brackmann made a layup with the Braves’ first possession to open up scoring.

The Salukis didn’t trail long as senior forward Carlie Corrigan grabbed a rebound on one end then scored SIU’s first basket of the game.

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The Braves controlled the first quarter, leading the entirety of it so that Bradley went into the next quarter with a 11-16 advantage.

To open the second, junior guard Danielle Brewer scored on a layup from Brackmann to give Bradley its biggest lead at that point in the game.

Corrigan again responded with a 2-pointer, cutting the Saluki deficit back to five.

Later in the quarter SIU went on a 6-0 run — four of those points scored by senior guard Rishonda Napier, her first points of the game — which cut Bradley’s lead to just one.

Braves senior forward Leti Lerma quickly scored a 2-pointer down on the other end, extending the lead back to three with 2:42 left in the half.

Lerma finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

The Braves maintained control for the remainder of the quarter — they went into the second half with a 25-30 lead.

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At the beginning of the third quarter Napier went on a rampage, scoring 13 straight points for the Salukis to give them a 38-35 advantage.

Napier’s scoring outburst sparked the rest of the team and SIU went into the fourth quarter with a 44-43 lead.

She led all scorers with 19 points and also added seven assists.

Bradley retook the lead at the start of the fourth thanks to a layup by Brewer that put the Braves on top 45-44.

After some made free throws by Lerma, SIU went on 6-0 run, putting them ahead 50-47 with 6:56 remaining.

With time winding down the Salukis went on a 7-0 run — highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers by Napier and junior guard Kylie Giebelhausen.

Bradley didn’t go down without a fight and put together a 6-0 run cutting the SIU lead to just two pointers with 1:48 left in the game.

That would be the last time Bradley put points on the board as the Salukis scored eight unanswered points to win the game 66-57.

SIU is back in action at 2 p.m. on Sunday against Illinois State in Normal.

Staff writer Jonathan Thompson can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @TheReal_Jt3.

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