Braves Host Western Illinois In Final Non-Conference Game

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 12/27/2017 1:00:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball plays its final non-conference game of the 2017-18 season and will close out a two-game home stand Thursday, Dec. 28, hosting defending Summit League champion Western Illinois in a 7 p.m. contest.

After an eight-day break for the holidays, Bradley (5-5 overall) will put the finishing touches on its non-conference schedule against Western Illinois (10-3 overall) as the Braves try to snap a two-game losing skid. A victory against the Leathernecks would give BU its best non-conference record since 2012-13 (6-5).

Thursday's game will be available on ESPN3 as part of the MVC media rights agreement with ESPN. The Valley On ESPN3 can be viewed through WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app. In addition, Ed Hammond will handle the radio broadcast on WIRL 1290 AM with links to the audio stream available at BradleyBraves.com

Bradley owns a 25-14 lead in the all-time series with Western Illinois and the Braves are 14-3 at home in the series with the squads splitting the last four matchups in Peoria. The one-time conference foes will be meeting for the 16^th time since concluding their Gateway Conference days in 1991-92, with Bradley holding a slim 8-7 edge in the series since. The Braves are 27-15 against current Summit League members, which includes a 16-3 home mark.

Last year, Bradley snapped a four-game losing streak in the final non-conference game of the year with a 65-56 victory at Illinois-Chicago and the Braves will look to snap another streak against Western Illinois. BU will be shooting for its first home win to finish the non-MVC schedule since a home victory against Western Illinois in 2011-12. Overall, Bradley is 23-11 in the final non-conference game of the year, which includes an impressive 14-4 (.778) mark at home. The Braves are 13-7 when finishing the non-conference schedule after Christmas.

Western Illinois is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, averaging better than 10 three-pointers per contest. Bradley had an advantage inside last year with the combo of sophomore Chelsea Brackmann and junior Vanessa Markert scoring 36 of BU's 77 points (47 percent) in last year's matchup with the Leathernecks. Brackmann tallied 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting, while Markert added 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Markert is coming off a season-best 24 point-performance against Cleveland State.

Freshman Gabi Haack has emerged as one of Bradley's top reserves, averaging 6.0 points and ranking second on the team in rebounding at 5.2 boards per outing. She leads the team with 12 three-point makes and is 11-for-31 (35.5 percent) from beyond the arc over the last eight games. Haack has averaged 6.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game over the last three games. She has helped the Bradley reserves outscore their counterparts in nine of 10 games this season with the BU bench outscoring the opponents' reserves by nearly 13 points per outing.

The Braves will open Missouri Valley Conference play Sunday, Dec. 31 with an 11 a.m. contest at I-74 rival Illinois State at Redbird Arena.

Print Friendly Version