Braves Host Drake In Sunday Matinee

Duane Zehr

Women's Basketball 1/27/2018 12:36:00 PM

PEORIA, Ill. – Bradley Women's Basketball looks for its first home conference win of the year Sunday afternoon against the defending Missouri Valley Conference champion when league-leading Drake visits for a 2 p.m. contest at Renaissance Coliseum.

A free post-game youth clinic will follow Sunday's 2 p.m. outing against the Bulldogs (13-7 overall, 8-0 MVC), which has won a Valley record 30 consecutive conference games after pulling out a 65-58 victory at Illinois State Friday. No pre-registration is required for the clinic, but participants are asked to wear active wear and gym shoes.

Despite a loss Friday against Northern Iowa, Bradley (10-9 overall, 4-4 MVC) is coming off one of its best defensive efforts of the season after holding the Panthers to 51 points and forcing 21 turnovers. The 51 points by UNI was the lowest point total in a regular-season MVC game for the Panthers since a 59-50 loss at Evansville on Feb. 8, 2014. In addition, Northern Iowa entered the game averaging nearly eight three-point field goals per game, but made just one of 13 shots from beyond the arc.

Sunday's contest 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

Sunday's game against Drake marks the halfway point of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule for both teams as Bradley tries to finish out the first half of league play with at least a 5-4 record for the 10^th time in program history. BU's last start of 5-4 or better was in 2009-10 (6-3).
Bradley and Northern Iowa rank first and second, respectively, in the Missouri Valley Conference in three-point field goal percentage and Friday's game between the two was a good indication of why with the teams combining to go 1-for-21 from beyond the arc. In fact, the Braves were coming off a school record 17 three-pointers at Evansville last Sunday but failed to connect on any of their eight three-point attempts Friday against the Panthers. Bradley went without a three-pointer in a game for the first time in almost 10 years to the day with the last game without a triple for the Braves coming in a 76-59 victory over Southern Illinois (0-for-3) on Feb. 2, 2008. Bradley went 307 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer during that stretch. Through games of Jan. 26, the Braves rank eighth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage defense at 26.1 percent, while Sunday's opponent Drake is 21^st in the country in three-point field goals per game (8.9).
Freshman Gabi Haack matched a season-high with 10 rebounds Friday against Northern Iowa and now ranks right behind teammate Chelsea Brackmann (6.2 rpg) in the MVC in rebounding at 6.1 rpg with the pair checking in at sixth and seventh in the Valley in rebounding. Brackmann had a Bradley freshman record with 202 boards last year. With at least 11 games remaining Haack's average of 6.6 boards per game in Valley play, would likely give her the second-best freshman rebound total in school history behind Brackmann's mark.
Senior Anneke Schlueter is on the verge of hitting a few milestones during Bradley's current four-game home stand. After a six-point effort Friday against Northern Iowa in which she moved up one spot on Bradley's career scoring list into 22^nd, Schlueter needs four points to surpass former teammate Leti Lerma (480 points) as the all-time leading scorer in Renaissance Coliseum history. She is also four points from passing Des Moines, Iowa, native Ashley Chelleen for 21^st on Bradley's career scoring list (925 points). A starter in 16 of 19 games this season, Schlueter owns 99 career starts and could become just the fifth player in program history with 100 career starts to their credit. The last Brave to join that list was Jen Brown (2003-07).
Five of Vanessa Markert's eight double-digit scoring efforts this season have come at Renaissance Coliseum after the junior collected 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists, four blocks and one steal off the bench Friday against Northern Iowa. Markert has averaged a team-best 11.1 points per game at home this season on 48 percent shooting and has also tallied 5.3 rebounds and nearly two blocks per game in eight outing at Renaissance Coliseum. Her performance Friday made her Bradley's first player to collect at least 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks in a game since Dena Williams had 12 points, 12 boards, four assists and six blocks at Evansville on Jan. 13, 2005.
Freshman Gabi Haack had a streak of 10 consecutive games with at least one three-pointer snapped Friday against Northern Iowa, going 0-for-3 from beyond the arc. The 10-game streak with at least one triple matched the longest in school history by a Bradley freshman. Katie Yohn, who holds the school career record for three-pointers with 210, is the only other freshman in Bradley history to hit a three-pointer in 10 consecutive games, doing so in the final 10 contests of her rookie campaign in 2009-10. During the 10-game stretch, Haack was 27-of-57 (47.4 percent) from long range and she is shooting 41.2 percent from three-point territory on the year.