The hustle was there.  The effort was palpable.  The points just didn't come.

On a frustrating afternoon for the offense, UIC (3-8) made just 26.2% of its shots in a 65-56 loss to Bradley (4-7) in the season's final non-conference game.

UIC outrebounded Bradley, including 20-9 on the offensive glass.  The Flames hoisted 12 more shots than the Braves.  They had nine steals to Bradley's four.  They generally frustrated Bradley's leading scorer, Anneke Schlueter, who shot just 4-for-14 (.286, 10 points below her season average).  They moved the ball, logging an assist on 82% of their field goals.

But one long scoring drought after another spelled doom for the Flames.

They missed six straight shots late in the second quarter, enabling Bradley to build a 10 point lead.  They missed their first 10 shots in the third quarter.  Bradley scored the first 9 points of the fourth quarter, pushing their lead to a game high 60-38.

Good news did come for UIC the last four minutes of the contest.  They made six of their last seven shots, closing the game on a 15-2 run that featured nine of Tylah Lampley's 12 points.
Brittany Byrd led the Flames with 16 points, two of which came on a highlight reel sequence when she made a heads up steal and went all the way to the rim for a layup.  She and Kiki Bynes (12 points) each went 5-6 from the free throw line, a location where the team made a season high 80% of their shots.

Gabryelle Johnson had a game and personal season high 13 rebounds, 7 of them offensive.  The Flames grabbed 20 offensive boards to Bradley's nine, yet scored just four second chance points.
Leti Lerma finished with a double double for Bradley (19 points, 11 rebounds).  Ryan Wilkins took as many free throws in the first half (6) as she had in 182 minutes over the Braves' first 10 games, making five.

One sequence late in the third quarter epitomized the Flames' great effort but lack of payoff.  Laura Litchfield made an athletic block, then corralled the ball and started to run.  The Flames had a 3-on-1 fast break, Litchfield made a sweet no look pass to Brittany Byrd, but she missed a point blank layup.

Terri Bender sat out the game as a precaution, necessitating some extended playing time from some of Regina Miller's reserves.  Desiree Jackson scored her first basket since Nov. 17.  Lampley played 16 minutes after not seeing action in two of the previous four games.  Bynes had more floor time than in any of the last seven games.  In all, UIC's bench scored 44 points.

UIC committed four turnovers in the first five minutes during a stretch in which they went 0-for-5 from the floor.  The switch was flipped after the first quarter media timeout, and the offense got flowing with some nicely executed set plays resulting in open looks.  UIC held Bradley without a point for four minutes and would commit just nine turnovers in the game's final 35 minutes.

The Flames will return to action as they open the Horizon League portion of their schedule December 29 at Oakland.  Their next home game will be January 5 against Milwaukee.