PEORIA, Ill. – McKendree University women's basketball opened its 2022-23 season here Thursday evening with a 71-60 setback to Bradley University in an exhibition contest at the Renaissance Center on the Bradley campus.
 
The Bearcats, who play another exhibition contest on Saturday in Carbondale, Ill., against Southern Illinois, led for almost the entire first half, before Bradley hit a three-pointer with 17 seconds left in the opening half to force a 35-all tie at the half.
 
"Really proud of our team. I loved our press, especially in the first and second quarter as (Bradley) wasn't expecting that and we were just very tenacious on the defensive end," McKendree head coach Kari Kerkhoff said following the game. "Our ladies came out, played hard and I was proud of they moved around without the basketball."
 
In the first half, McKendree made six of its first seven shots and finished the half shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from the 3-point line.
 
Junior forward Naomi McDaniel (Attica, Ind./Parkland CC) and sophomore guard Clare Breden (Jerseyvlle, Ill./Jerseyville) each scored 14 points to pace the Bearcats. Junior guard Christy Fortune (Appleton, Wis./Appleton West) added 13 points, all of which came in the second half.
 
McDaniel scored all 14 of her points in the first half, including seven of them in the first quarter in her McKendree debut. McDaniel also added 10 rebounds and blocked two shots.
 
"Naomi is just a competitor. She is just a competitor and wants to win. She has come into our program, learned a lot and it was great to see it transfer onto the floor," the eighth-year McKendree said about McDaniel's play. "We've got her working in terms of getting the ball inside and now finding open shooters to make it easier for her inside and once she gets that full aspect of the in-out game she is going to be a phenomenal player."
 
McKendree jumped out to a 15-7 lead just a little over five into the game as they made six of their first seven shots against the Braves. Bradley, though, would close the opening quarter on a 9-6 run to cut McKendree's lead to 21-16. In the quarter, McKendree shot 60 percent (9-for-15) from the field.
 
The Braves would open the second quarter on an 11-8 run to pull within 29-27 with 3:43 left in the quarter. The Bearcats, though, scored four of the next seven points to push in front 33-30 following a basket from freshman guard Georgia Duncan (Washington, Ill./Washington Community).
 
Bradley would close the second quarter by scoring five of the final seven points to tie the game at the half.
 
In the third quarter, Bradley got into a groove offensively as they outscored the Bearcats, 25-13, to take a 60-48 lead after three quarters. In the quarter, the Braves made six 3-pointers and shot 86 percent from the 3-point line in the quarter.
 
Bradley opened the third quarter by scoring the first five points to take its first lead of the game at 40-35. But, Fortune would drill back-to-back treys from deep to help the Bearcats cut the Braves lead to 43-41 with 6:44 left in the quarter.
 
"The momentum changed at halftime I thought and they (Bradley) came out and got a little bit more aggressive. We had some turnovers and that helped them take control in the third quarter," Kerkoff added.
 
The Braves, though, would respond with 15-5 run to push out to 58-46 lead with 1:54 left in the period. The run began with a trey from Ruba Abo Hashesh and was capped by a trey from Isis Fitch.
 
Breden stopped the run by the Bradley with a lay-up with 40 seconds left to cut the deficit to 10 at 58-48, but Daija Powell scored with 20 seconds left to give Bradley its 60-48 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter, Bradley pushed its lead to as much as 15 points three different times, before the Bearcats would close the game by scoring five of the final six points, including freshman guard Addie Denny (Anna, Ill./Anna-Jonesboro) hitting two free throws with 1:18 left in the game to cap the scoring. McKendree would outscore Bradley, 12-11, in the final quarter.
 
Caroline Waite paced Bradley with a game-high 24 points, including scoring 12 of those 19 points in the third quarter. Fitch added 15 points and 10 rebounds and Powell just missed double figures as she had nine points and five rebounds for the Braves.
 
Bradley held a 39-32 edge on the boards, including a 23-9 edge on the offensive glass. Those 23 offensive boards led to 21 second chance points for the home team.
 
McKendree also lost the turnover battle, 22-12, including committing 14 of those turnovers in the second half as Bradley scored 18 points off those 14 turnovers in the second half. For the game, Bradley held a 20-13 edge in points of turnovers.
 
While the Bearcats finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line, Bradley shot 37 percent from the field and 35 percent from the 3-point line in the game.
 
Both teams struggled at the free throw line as McKendree was 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) from the line and Bradley was 5-for-8 (62.5 percent) at the line.
 
Following Saturday's game at Southern Illinois, the Bearcats will open the 2022-23 season with a 5 p.m. CT game on Nov. 11 at Tiffin as part of the GLVC/G-MAC Crossover hosted by Tiffin in Tiffin, Ohio.